Tainted Life
by DemonKittyAngel
Summary: Hermione has a cousin who's a year older than her but things went wrong the year she first went to Hogwarts and she never saw him again. Until now. Tendershipping. Yaoi. Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

Hermione has a cousin who's a year older than her but things went wrong the year she first went to Hogwarts and she never saw him again. Until now.

Don't kill me! I have way to much crap in my head without tomatoes outside of it. Ryou is Hermione's cousin. There. Things will happen. Just read. (And there is no ownership here. Well, Bakura owns Ryou but we all know that. ^^)

It was the week before Christmas holidays and the Golden Trio of Hogwarts was relaxing in chairs by the fireplace. Hermione was reading as Harry and Ron played a game of chess. They're peaceful calm was soon interrupted as a brown owl started pecking at the window. Noticing no one else around Hermione let it in and was surprised when it landed on the sill holding its leg out to her with a letter. Surprised (as it was rare for her parents to send her an owl post as they always found it a little unnerving to have an owl make the trip), Hermione took the letter and opened it up.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Hello. How have you been? Are your classes going well? We can't wait to see you next week when you get off the train. We have a special surprise this year as your cousin Ryou will be coming as well. You remember Ryou don't you dear? We were so surprised when we got a letter from him saying that he would be in England and was wondering if he could spend the holidays with us. Your uncle will not be coming though. We have to pick him up from the airport after we get you from the train so it'll be a long trip when you get back. I'm sorry for the short notice and hope you're doing well._

_Love,_

_Mom & Dad_

Hermione blinked at the letter. She hadn't even heard about Ryou since he disappeared sometime during her first year and now, 5 years later, he was going to be there for Christmas. Hermione slowly went back to her seat and sunk down worrying her lip and still staring at the letter held limply in her hand.

Harry looked up from the game as he could sense the futility as Ron was a few moves from check mating him. "Hermione, is something wrong?" He asked upon noticing her not reading a book for once – an unusual occurrence.

"My cousin is coming for the holidays…" Hermione replied worriedly. It had been so long since she'd seen her cousin and after all the strange events around him before his disappearance she wasn't sure about really seeing him again. She was happy he was alright since it had worried everyone when he'd disappeared and Uncle Haru would say nothing about where he was but it would be so different. Well, it always had been since Auntie and her cousin Amane had died.

"And, what's so big about that?" Ron asked as he moved another piece. He could get check mate in two more moves.

Hermione put down her letter down carefully and smoothed out her skirt. "My cousin disappeared during our first year here and no one has heard anything from him since. We didn't even know that he was alive…" Hermione finished in a sort of awe as it set in what it really meant. Her cousin was alive, and safe, and she was going to see him.

Harry put a hand on her shoulder "Sounds tough." before moving a piece on the board which Ron immediately responded to. "Did you find out where he was?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. The letter just says that we have to pick him up from the airport on the way home." Hermione frowned. Where had her uncle sent him all these years? And why come back now?

Harry made a move on the board. "Well isn't this good? You haven't seen him in a long time." Ron moved into check mate and they shook hands over the game.

"It is… but there were some events going on before his disappearance…" Hermione struggled with herself and how much she should tell them about the incidents before deciding that there was no reason to hide it from them. "My cousins Ryou and Amane and I always used to play together as we lived down the street from each other and all. Then, in February the year before I got my letter they got in a car accident. Ryou was the only one to survive and then weird things started happening around him. Well, weird things had been happening before but it was more common after the accident. Ryou was always really sweet and couldn't kill a fly but whenever his friends came over… I only saw it once and Ryou looked really freaked out and was shaking in the corner but all his friends were lying around a game board looking lifeless. They almost looked like they had all been given the dementor's kiss. My Uncle blamed Ryou for my Aunt and cousin's deaths so after a few incidents had happened he took Ryou and they moved around a lot until mid-October when I received a letter that my uncle had apparently shipped Ryou off somewhere and he wouldn't tell anyone where."

"Creepy stuff mate." Ron said sinking back into his seat.

"A dementor's kiss Hermione? How could that be possible?" Harry asked thinking over what had been said.

"I mean, they were still alive but… they had no life. Like they lost they're souls. I don't know how because there certainly weren't any dementors around. Anyway," she said brushing the vile thoughts of the past away, "I'm just glad that he's alive and safe. I do wonder where he was all these years though." Hermione thought back on her older cousin. He was always sweet and gentle; almost like an angel, and his father always blamed him for Amane and Auntie's deaths. And then all the incidents and disappearing…

"Well if he's coming by plane doesn't that mean he was sent to another country?" Harry asked.

Hermione frowned, "I'm not sure, he could just be coming from the south; or maybe Scotland."

"What's a 'pane'?" Ron asked in lack his lack of muggle technology.

"An airplane Ronald." Hermione quickly corrected his mistake out of habit. "They allow muggles to fly long distances in a short amount of time."

"Muggles can fly? But they don't have broomsticks or anything."

"Ron," Harry jumped in amused by his friends ignorance. "they use technology. Muggles built planes to get them from place to place faster."

Ron shook his head and gave up knowing that no matter what his two best friends said he wasn't ever going to understand muggle technology. "I give up, mate."

Harry laughed a little at his friend's expense. "So, what are you two doing for the holidays?" Hermione asked in her usual brisk tone stressful thoughts about her cousin gone for the moment.

"I'm going to spend the holidays with Ron at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley insisted." Harry answered for them followed by a nod from Ron.

Hermione herself nodded. "Well that's all well and good, now. Did you two finish your essay for charms?" Ron groaned and Harry secretly delighted in the utter normalcy of the question. "But Hermione, who wants to write a seven inch essay on the pros and cons of a blasting hex vs. a cannon charm?" The golden trio returned to their normal evening in their last week at Hogwarts before the break.

~Ryou's POV~

Here he was, standing around the arrivals block at the airport waiting for his Aunt and Uncle to pick him up. Ryou was even more annoyed that he had to be picked up from here. He had already spent the last two and a half weeks going around England to give his one time friends back their souls but the spirit had insisted that it would be suspicious if he just turned up on their doorstep and getting picked up from the airport from a flight he had never taken in the first place to get there was the best option. Ryou sighed as he watched several more people come and go before walking off. Maybe his Aunt and Uncle were somewhere else around here. He wandered back towards the door where most new arrivals left the airport and there they were, his cousin Hermione was there as well. They were looking around nervously and holding up a sign with his name written in English; it had been a while since he'd seen it that way.

He slowly approached them and cleared his throat. "Ryou!" Hermione called in surprise before leaping over to hug him. She might not be one to show a lot of affection but it was her cousin who'd gone missing for 5 years. She quickly pulled back and blushed slightly in embarrassment. "It's good to see you."

"It is." His Uncle stated turning to head for the car with a silent agreement from everyone. "So," his Aunt started, "where have you been these past few years?" The question was a surprise to Ryou and it clearly showed on his face.

"My father never told you?" he asked in disbelief before shaking it off. /Your father's an asshole and probably didn't want you near any of your family. / Bakura shot out and Ryou could only agree, not entirely on the asshole part, but the part about not wanting him around at all so besides the one slip he acted as if it didn't bother him. "I was in Japan. I always wondered why I never got any letters from you."

They all looked slightly shocked that he had been sent so far away. "Are you fluent in Japanese?" Hermione asked curiosity getting to her. Ryou raised an eyebrow before replying in his most frequent tongue. _"Hai, I speak perfectly fluent Japanese."_

They all gave him slight looks so he explained, "I just said yes, I speak Japanese." as his Aunt unlocked the trunk for him. Peering inside he found a trunk occupying most of the space in there. He raised an eyebrow which Hermione caught. "You remember the boarding school I was going to?" Ryou nodded his head so she continued. "Well I was also accepted into the high school division so I was picked up from the train right before we came to get you." Ryou's suitcase was placed besides Hermione's trunk and the back door was opened for him and Hermione.

"So what was Japan like?" his Uncle (Phil, Ryou reminded himself) asked.

Ryou thought back to all that had happened there and decided it would be better to just focus on the place itself. "It's beautiful. Very calm, and peaceful," /Not like I ever let you enjoy that. / "lots of advanced technology, and I lived in Domino, Japan which is the center of the Duel Monsters universe to all diehard fans. I've even competed in a few contests myself." /I competed. / Bakura corrected but feeling testy Ryou shot back; /And I'm just as good as you! /

"Really? It sounds lovely." His Aunt Terra said kindly. "What's duel monsters?" /Figures they wouldn't know. /

/Shh, you. / "It's a strategy game with cards. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it as it never really caught on here in England."

"You said you competed in some tournaments." Uncle Phil restated and Ryou noted that they were on the highway already. "Where do you usually place in these tournaments?"

Ryou fidgeted not liking to boast his position but he hated lying more /Why wouldn't you like to boast? I boasted all the time when I was the King of Thieves. / so he decided to just get on with it. "I'm the 5th best dueslist world wide." Ryou blushed a little before shooting a comment back at his dark. /I'm not you and aren't you having a meeting with that Evil Lord Voldetrort or something? /

Hermione started staring at him her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. 'World wide?' she mouthed and Ryou simply nodded. /I am but it's very boring. I think I'll have them cause some destruction. / Ryou could sense the smirk as the link was cut off. "Well, that's," Phil inserted a cough, "quite impressive. Hermione is at the top of her entire school. Head of all her classes." He stated proudly not wanting his daughter to be outdone. Ryou was technically his nephew but it was his wife's sister, Livia, who was Ryou's mother so they had no real blood relation.

The topic of conversation turned to his friends from Japan so he told them all about Yugi, Jou, Anzu, and Honda. He brought up Kaiba a few times to but mainly talked about the rivalry between him and Yugi. He also brought up Malik and the time he'd gone to visit him in Egypt. That had been a terrible trip; well, part of it. They were exploring one of the caves when the rod lit up and Malik started freaking out. It was later revealed that Marik (as they had finally dubbed the spirit of the Millennium Rod) had found his way back and was now thoroughly glued to Malik. It was a little cute in a way. Kinda shows you how twisted Ryou's life has become if murdering, evil spirits following around your best friend is 'cute'.

They arrived at Hermione's house in Winndleberg **(1)** in about a half hour so Ryou had just finished telling about how he met Malik. A _much_ edited version of how he met Malik. In this version Malik had almost hit Ryou with his motorcycle and while diving out of the way Ryou had scratched his arm up so Malik took him to the hospital and not long after that they became friends. It's not like none of that happened, it just hadn't been how they met: or as if he'd been present for most of it.

Phil Granger pulled up to a house in the suburbs that matched all the others but with a little windmill near the mailbox and a porch swing made of polyester so it was always cool when you sat on it. Well, almost always. They pulled up to the garage and Ryou had to go around the back of the car (he grabbed his suitcase) and all the way back to the front by the driver's door to go in the door at the side of the garage. He entered into a small hallway which had two doors in it, both open. The one on the end was a laundry room he knew from the pile of clothes and the sink and the one half way down the hall on the opposite side was a bathroom. Ryou took this all in a second before going right down the hallway where he entered a clean and crisp kitchen. Ryou stepped out of the way so that Hermione, who was behind him and the last one into the house, through.

Hermione took one step into the kitchen before pausing to smile brightly. She was home. After giving herself her moment of utter content-ness she turned to Ryou, "You'll be using the guest room I suppose. Do you remember where it is?" Ryou nodded his head. It was across the hall from Hermione's room; they used to make forts in there. Hermione nodded back before heading towards the stairs and up to her room.

Ryou waited a moment before following. He remembered his way around but it was different. The décor had changed, Hermione had obviously changed, and there was no Amane. It was going to be a little hard being back here; so close to when things had been normal. Ryou felt Bakura's consciousness settle into the back of his mind as he walked up the stairs to see Hermione enter her room on the left while he went to the one on the right. The room was like most guest rooms. Brown, gender neutral sheets, light curtains, a wooden dresser, and a bedside table with a clock.

Ryou set about the task of putting his clothes in the dresser and storing the many knives Bakura had packed for him around the room. /Didn't you go a little overboard? / Ryou asked as he stuck a thin one into the side of the mattress by the base. /Not at all. I just brought a few of my favorites. / Ryou pulled out a short sword and the custom sheath that strapped to his leg. /You packed enough weapons for me to go to war. / He took the short sword and stuck it onto the back of the closet door. Ryou decided not to search the rest of the suitcase for the other 20 or so blades he knew would be there.

/Well _I_ am involved in one and I do expect you to join me after the holidays. By the way, your Christmas present is at the bottom of your suitcase. Ryou flipped over his empty suitcase not having to question what Bakura meant by the bottom. Looking at the edge Ryou found the false stitches and tore them open via a pocket knife he kept, appropriately, in his pocket. Inside was an old photo of Ryou, Amane, Hermione, and all their parents at the park having fun. Ryou thought he had lost it in a move from Hokkaido to Kyoto (he had been forced to move around in Japan as well for the first 3 years) and was shocked to see it. /T-thank you Kura. Thank you. / Ryou said letting all the good feelings the picture brought him flow through the link. Who knew where Bakura had found it again.

Ryou also found a frame of gold with slight leaf designs wrapped in some paper inside the false bottom. He gently placed the photo inside before hugging the whole gift to his chest and that was how Hermione found him. Hermione had changed into a deep green sweater and a knee length blue/purple plaid skirt and opened the door to see Ryou clutching something to his chest and a small, sad but joyful smile on his face. She stared for a minute before she decided that it was rude to just watch so she made her presence known. "Ryou?" she asked quietly trying not to startle him and failing as he jumped up and reached for his pocket. "Oh, Hermione." He said calming down and putting the hand that had the photo to his chest again the other one still in his pocket. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought."

"About?" Hermione walked in noticing her cousin's soft features all over again. His doe brown eyes were wide and startled but morphed into a sad and peaceful look as he considered her question. His lips were a small smile and his soft white hair flowed down to past his shoulder blades making him look rather feminine. Hermione sat down on the edge of the bed and Ryou took a seat next to her showing her the photo. "I was just thinking about old times and how much I miss them." Ryou said softly.

Hermione ran her hand down the front. "I miss them to." She said after a minute her hand having lingered over Amane's image. Ryou took the photo and placed it on his bedside table almost reverently as if it was a precious gift; and to him, it was.

"We should probably go down to dinner." Ryou said with a soft smile and grabbed Hermione's hand as they left the room. They came down to see Hermione's mother draining some pasta in the sink. "Ah, you're just in time for dinner dears. Hermione, would you set the table?" Hermione went to do as she was asked and Ryou followed her to help. Dinner passed in polite conversations about Hermione's school and nothing that interesting came up except for one subject. "So, Hermione, who's your new math teacher?" Her father asked.

"It's a person from the ministry, Ms. Umbridge. She's absolutely a horror. She thinks that if we read about the theory enough we'll all understand but she doesn't allow us to practice at all so Harry and I set up a study group where we all practice together."

"That sounds great Hermione." Her mother cooed. "It's always nice to see you taking your studies seriously when you're there." Ryou wouldn't have paid any special attention except that Hermione's left fist tightened when she spoke about the study group; a habit she had whenever she lied. Bakura had been unusually quiet throughout the meal and after dinner Ryou excused himself to go to his room.

/Kura? What is it? / Ryou didn't add why he was worried as Bakura could already tell. He always knew. He was a bit shocked by the answer. /Did you know your cousin is a witch? /

/Is that why she felt a bit strange? / Ryou asked thinking of how when he stood next to her he wanted to reach out to the shadows. /Yeah. You wouldn't recognize it but I've been around these wizards for a couple of days and they all feel that way. / Ryou searched through his mind seeing if he could put the feeling into words. /As if there's a little prickly cloud around them? / Bakura chuckled at the comparison. /Sure. Now, / Ryou felt the pull towards his soul room so he quickly shut the door and climbed under the covers figuring he wouldn't be back that night. Letting himself slip from his body he found himself pushed backwards onto a feather soft bed in his own soul room where Bakura had waited for him.

"Now that we've established that your cousin is a witch, let's talk." Ryou simply nodded his head and closed his eyes. He could feel Bakura crawl on top of him low enough that Ryou could feel all Bakura's movements through their clothes. Ryou took a deep breath inflating himself upwards to bring them a little closer and Bakura moved down with the breath since they were almost nose to nose at this point. "Naughty Ryou. We're supposed to be talking." Bakura whispered huskily into his ear.

Ryou shivered a bit at the proximity and the tone but kept his mind. "I don't have anything to say." Bakura put some slight pressure on his hips arousing Ryou who worked hard to hold back a moan. "So what about the Evil Lord? Anything interesting happen?" Bakura frowned as his attempt at seduction failed so he dropped himself promptly on top of Ryou and started playing with Ryou's bangs.

"He was very boring. All this talk about 'Pure Blood' and the such. There was also a whole rant about how he's going to destroy this kid named Harry Potter who apparently was the only one who could stop him so that was a bit interesting except that it went on so long. There was also the regular evil agenda, seeing who killed who and the such, but I've agreed to stay and work with them. It's interesting at the least and you'll be happy that I'm mostly out of trouble."

Ryou was melting at the smooth voice of his Yami and the soothing fingers through the shortest part of his hair. "You never stay out of trouble Kura." Ryou mumbled to content to form a full answer. He cracked open an eye, "And when you say Harry Potter do you mean my cousin's friend?" Ryou recalled when Hermione had spoken about the study group they had made.

"Yup, the very same." Bakura stopped playing with his hair deciding that enough serious talk had been taken care of and he had to prove Ryou right about something. "Now what was that about me never keeping out of trouble?" Ryou wanted to roll over so Bakura complied with his lighter half propping himself up on Bakura's chest with his elbows. "I mean that everywhere you go you find the worst guy around and side with him just so you can get some entertainment and when you're not doing that you're trying to take over the world yourself, stealing, or doing some other misdeed. And in the case you're doing none of the above, you're trying to get me to have sex with you."

Ryou raised an eyebrow at his sound argument and Bakura just smirked. "I knew there was a reason you were more than just a sex toy." He flipped them over and Ryou leaned up to kiss him: that was as close as Bakura ever got to saying he loved him. Bakura quickly took advantage of this position and went to ravage Ryou's mouth soundly.

Bakura's roving hands quickly found their way under Ryou's shirt which swiftly found itself discarded on the floor. Ryou leaned into every touch and joined into the effort of removing clothing from their bodies. Their bodies bared, Bakura took another chance to look at his angel, his Ryou. Bakura was most certainly possessive and Ryou was the best treasure he had ever procured as far as he was concerned. He smirked and Ryou smiled back up at him. Now time for business.

Bakura lent down and attached himself to Ryou's neck making sure his breath went to the back of Ryou's neck expertly tingling the purer ones senses. His hands went down the other's sides and roughly grabbed the hips jerking them towards his own hard erection. "Mine." He growled in Ryou's ear and Ryou just moaned in agreement.

Ryou himself wanted to pleasure the other so he took a moment to grab onto Bakura's strong shoulders and slide himself down a bit so he could nibble at an already erect nipple. Bakura let Ryou continue to draw warm patterns that were instantly cooled by the air across his chest and soon, lower towards his stomach before he decided enough of that had been going on. He roughly pushed Ryou back onto the bed and properly straddled his hips. He ravaged Ryou mouth one more time before putting three fingers in front of Ryou's mouth who obediently started sucking on them and bobbing his head back and forth knowing the movement always drove his yami crazy.

Sure that the fingers were coated enough Bakura retracted them and placed Ryou's legs on either of his shoulders slowly ghosting his fingers down Ryou's body before circling around the base earning a mewl from the lighter. "Kura…" the whisper was so husky the darker one had trouble not entering him right then so instead he entered two fingers at once determined to be fucking as soon as possible.

He started scissoring the two fingers ignoring the grunt of pain Ryou had given at the first entry being so rough. Bakura had barely gotten Ryou sufficiently stretched out with two fingers when he started on the third bending over and occupying Ryou's mouth so the latter barely noticed as he was stretched further. Almost simultaneously Bakura retracted his fingers and his mouth leaving Ryou to whimper at the loss of feeling but he knew what was coming.

Bakura kneeled up high letting Ryou's legs slip from his shoulders as the younger sat up himself. He moved his legs behind himself and crawled over to engulf the other's member. Ryou expertly nipped and sucked at the hard cock almost forcing Bakura over the edge right then if not for his self control. Bakura growled/moaned at the ministrations of his hikari before Ryou deep throated him just once before retracted his head and leaning backwards onto the bed giving Bakura a full view of Ryou sweaty, slightly out of breath, and oh so take-able.

Covering the smaller's form with his own he positioned himself already dripping over Ryou's entrance. Kissing him swiftly one more time he entered Ryou before the saliva could dry too much. Ryou gasped at the pain so Bakura just dived deeper into his throat and soothingly stroked his hair. "Shh… Ryou. It's not going to hurt for long koi." He whispered soothingly waiting for Ryou to adjust. Usually this was all faster but traveling all over the country the past two weeks never left them much time for this plus excessive use of shadow magic to restore all the souls to their rightful vessels was exhausting.

Ryou shifted his hips letting Bakura know that he was ready so after another swift kiss Bakura retracted almost all the way before slamming back into him earning a gasp of mixed pleasure and pain. Setting a rhythm Ryou was quickly reduced to a puddle of moans and whimpers as he through his head back and forth on the bed. "Kura… faster…Ah… more… oh G-d please…"

Seeing Ryou writhe before him just egged Bakura on and his speed increased along with his impossibly hard hard-on. Nearing his climax he almost ceremoniously bit just below the collar bone for two reasons. One, to stop from moaning, and two, to taste Ryou's delicious blood. Ryou gave a last big gasp before moaning out, "Bakura!" and his muscles clamping down all around Bakura sent him over the edge of bliss as well.

They both lay panting for a moment before Bakura removes his member and kisses Ryou gently. Ryou gently opened his eyes to connect with bloody brown and whispering a quick "I love you." to Bakura who's only reply was as "Of course." that wasn't laced with pride but love. After all, he would never actually say it.

"Mmm… Kura, where are we going to meet up after the holidays?" Ryou asked as they rolled towards the side, Bakura pulling Ryou close. Bakura stroked Ryou's hair. "Hmm, I'm think I'll see you before that…"

Ryou raised his head up questioningly. "What do you mean by that?" Bakura chuckled and an _almost_ evil smirk covering his face. "I was just thinking I might come visit before then… and bring some friends…" Ryou frowned at the implications of that sentence. "Kura, you are not going to attack my cousin's town."

"On the contrary, everyone already agreed to it at the meeting earlier." Ryou just shook his head in false disbelief. "And you didn't think to mention this before? Why do I bother…" he muttered before asking the only question that would really matter in this situation. "When are they coming?"

Bakura smirked at Ryou's intelligence. "The 27th." Ryou's head shot up. "The 27th? But that's in less than a week!" Bakura just shrugged before bringing his hikari back down and close to him. With a last mummer of "Why do I honestly bother?" Ryou drifted off to sleep and Bakura summoned a sheet out of nowhere to cover them.

Yeah, it's short. T^T I'm sorry! It was just such an… ending! Waah! Sorry! The rest should be the right length though! . (I hope…) Go away! Ahh! It's pessimism! That stupid voice in your head that says you can't do things! NOOOO! .

Btw, I have a full plot for once. Story should be about 50 chapters judging from what I have…


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, another chappy… now where to start! Umm… I guess waking up… '^.^ Yeah… this chapter is filler to get through all the days up to the 27th and fyi, I don't celebrate Christmas, I am Jewish. I only know the basics so I'm skimming over everything. Don't complain! At least I try!

Ryou woke up to the sunlight filtering through his windows and hitting his face making him most uncomfortable. It was probably just past dawn Ryou reasoned from the angle of the sun. Far too early to be awake but he was, so he resigned himself to getting dressed and pulling out a book. He dressed in a style slightly reminiscent of his yami; they couldn't actually see each other until the 27th which Ryou wasn't sure to dread or be excited about.

He was wearing a pair of tight leather pants and a green shirt Malik had picked out that said 'Someone said that the things I said should be on a t-shirt. Here it is…' in gold letters all the way down the front and 'I still think they're wrong.' on the back. Bakura thought the shirt was clever so he insisted Ryou wear it every now and then because it had 'wit'.

The millennium ring never left his person whenever Bakura wasn't right there so he decided to leave the ring out for a while a bit tired of always hiding it around other people. 'Hermione and my aunt and uncle already know that it was my last gift from my father… maybe I don't have to hide it…' the thought occurred to Ryou but he quickly dismissed it. He was no fool and he had learned over the years to keep things close to the chest.

Eventually he heard the shower in the hall go on and Ryou figured that Hermione was up so he would use the shower after her. It was currently 7:14 he noted the time and thought on what knives to arm himself with today. He would of course keep his pocket knife with him although with such tight pants he had to tuck it into a belt loop. He also tucked a jeweled knife Bakura liked to show off with in the back of his pants and decided he didn't need anymore weapons. Two was already more than he would normally take.

…Then again Bakura had trained him to always have at least three on his person at all times so he felt a bit unprotected in truth. Thinking it over he pulled a few more knives out of the suitcase and tucked a small one, about six inches including the hilt, into his sock. Feeling much better he heard the shower go off and went into the hallway to 1) grab a towel, 2) wait for Hermione to get out so he could get in.

It was about ten minutes later when Ryou heard the blow dryer go off and his cousin came out with only slightly damp hair. "Oh, Ryou. I didn't realize you were waiting." She said apologetically stepping aside to let him though.

"It's nothing." He smiled kindly at her and went in to get a shower. About halfway through he felt Bakura stir. /Good morning. / he sent lightly knowing Bakura was anything but a morning person. All he got in return was some incoherent growls that made Ryou giggle in how normal it was. When Bakura woke up a bit he noticed what Ryou was doing. /What's this Hikari? Giving me a free show first thing in the morning? / Ryou blushed at the indication before denying it. /Th-that's not it! I'm just getting a shower. /

/Anytime your somewhere there's a show Ryou. / the dark spirit said making Ryou go almost tomato red. Not having a good comeback he just finished up his shower and ignored the gloat he could feel coming across the link. Hermione had luckily left the hair dryer out so Ryou used that to speed things up. About 12 minutes later he was going downstairs for breakfast.

It was waffles. He hadn't had those since the 'experiment' Bakura did with some of them and almost burned the house down. Safe to say, he couldn't cook. "Good morning." His Uncle Phil greeted kindly from behind his cup of coffee. "Good morning." Ryou offered back before getting a plate of two waffles that had obviously been put aside for him. "Father, what are we doing today?" Hermione asked and Ryou couldn't deny that he was curious. He smiled at his daughter before giving a big wink. "We saved decorating the tree just for you". Ryou felt his heart pang. His father didn't even send cards. /How many times do I have to tell you to stop thinking on the asshole? / Ryou rose to the bait as obvious as it was. /And how many times do I have to tell you not to call my father an asshole? /

/Feel better? / Ryou resisted the urge to sigh. He did feel better but Bakura's methods of cheering him up were always unorthodox. Decorating the tree ended up being a lot of fun and besides Ryou getting his hair caught in some tinsel at one point it went off without a hitch. The tree now beautifully decorated, they sang a few carols and then did their own things for the rest of the day. Christmas eve was uneventful except for the feast but then again, that's always eventful.

The main highlight was when an owl started pecking at the window. Ryou's aunt and uncle exchanged a look while Hermione went over and took a letter from the bird. Ryou would have been surprised except that Bakura had been ranting about the oddities of the wizards the entire morning one of the points being that they used owls to send messages. He widened his eyes though as if he were surprised. His relatives didn't need to know that he knew about wizards or that he knew Hermione was one.

Ryou shook out of his thoughts as Hermione gasped. "What is it dear?" Aunt Terra asked going over to her daughter since the owl had already flown off. "Harry and Ron were attacked! They had to go somewhere else for the remainder of the break." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief about halfway down the letter. "No one's hurt but it says that the school is in danger of shutting down since Dumbledore still hasn't been seen."

No one had anything to say in response so Ryou meekly raised his hand. "Would anyone care to explain why an owl just delivered a letter, why Hermione's friends would be attacked, or who Dumbledore is?" All fair questions that none of them wanted to answer. All the while Bakura filed away the information deciding what he would or wouldn't mention to Voldemort. /Get them talking Yandonoushi. This could be very informative. /

Ryou felt danger behind the request. Bakura only ever called him yandonoushi when there was something he was supposed to do for him on a business level. Ryou hated those moments but paid attention ar the three exchanged glances before Hermione stepped forward. "Ryou, I know this is going to be hard to believe but I'm a witch." Ryou nodded his head. He already knew that.

Hermione still looked worried so he prodded her on. "That doesn't answer any of my questions." She seemed to huff with herself before sitting back down the letter clenched tight in her hands. "Ryou, the Wizarding World is illegal for muggles, or non-magical people, to know about. You have to swear not to tell anyone."

Ryou put on a serious look. "I swear." /You little liar. I can hear everything. / Bakura smirked. /I'm not telling you though plus you're part of my soul. I don't think you count. / Again, Bakura was impressed. /Why, you're bending the rules to fit your needs. I have trained you well. Where's the straight laced Ryou I first met when you were nine? /

"The Wizarding World is currently at war, Ryou. There is a dark lord out there who thinks people like me should die, people with non-magical parents. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed Harry's parents when he was an infant but when he tried to kill Harry it backfired. Harry is the boy who lived and last year You-Know-Who rose in power again and he's out to kill Harry." Hermione checked to make sure that Ryou was understanding all of this so he gave a curt nod of his head.

"Well, to answer your first question, owls are the most common form of communication among wizards. The last question… Professor Dumbledore is the headmaster at my school, Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. He's also the only person that You-Know-Who fears. The ministry refuses to believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back so Dumbledore is leading the resistance. However, no one knows where he's been the last two months or so and the ministry is using this as an excuse to exercise some false power and act like they still have control."

/Political unrest? Always a good time to take control… / Bakura started to plot before Ryou stopped him. /Oh no you don't! You said you would stay mostly out of trouble! / Bakura stopped his plotting and soothed his hikari's ruffled feathers. /I won't. It's just force of habit to look for control. / Ryou mentally sighed but knew that he had to reply to Hermione in some way. But what to say? "So you're a witch, Dumbledore is the headmaster of your school, owls are used for mail, there's an evil lord trying to kill one of your friends, and the government in the Wizarding World(?) is ignoring the threat and trying to shut down the school?" Ryou summed it up quickly and knew from her face that Hermione realized how ridiculous it all sounded.

"I know that none of this seems real but it is Ryou and you absolutely can't tell anyone. This is very serious." Hermione pleaded so Ryou took her hand and looked her in the eyes. "I believe you Hermy. It's just a lot to take in at once." Hermione nodded her head and a tear almost fell but Ryou wiped it away. "It just gets so frustrating! Everything is going in circles, one of my best friends is almost killed every year, the government is interfering at the school and Dumbledore, the only person who could really help, is missing! And now Harry and Ron were attacked at Ron's house."

Ryou stood up and awkwardly hugged Hermione offering all the comfort he could. "It's ok Hermy, it's ok. It sounds like Harry can take care of himself and they're safe right now." He patted her hair as she leaned her head against his chest. They stayed like that for a while until Hermione sat up straight. "I'm sorry. It's not like me to lose it like this." She wiped a few tears from her eyes.

Ryou knelt back down and caught her eyes. "It's ok. There's a lot going on and sometimes it can help a lot just to tell someone who's not involved." Hermione just looked at him for a minute before allowing herself a soft smile. "I guess you're right."

/See if we can check the letter. / Bakura shot in and Ryou himself was interested. Taking the hand Hermione had the letter in he asked, "May I?" and after a small internal debate on Hermione's side she let go of the letter. "You can try. It might be charmed so that muggles can't read it though." So he took the letter and smoothed out the wrinkles it had from Hermione's grip.

_Hermione,_

_Sorry to write to you under such circumstances but me and Ron were attacked. It was a group of about seven but luckily none of us were hurt. We're staying at Number 12 Grimmauld place right now and Sirius keeps going back and forth between raving about the attack or gushing about us spending the holidays with him._

_However, at the meetings something's come up that's worrisome. The ministry is saying that since Dumbledore isn't around they should either close the school or put Umbridge in charge. I'm also worried since Voldemort hasn't made any moves since his return._

_Just keeping you up to date,  
Harry_

/Bakura, what's wrong with this letter? / Ryou asked as it continued to prickle his fingers just holding it. /It's soaked in magic. And notice how 'Grimmauld place' keeps smudging? We aren't supposed to be able to read that even with magic. /

/Oh… / Ryou answered and pretended to re-read the letter. "Hermione, who's Voldemort?" Ryou saw her wince at the name and wondered why. "He's the dark lord. But everyone calls him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Only Harry or Dumbledore actually call him…" Hermione struggled with herself trying to say the word before she settled on a hushed, "that." Ryou nodded his head before he pointed out the part of the letter Bakura had. "What's this line supposed to say? It's all smudged."

Not losing a beat Hermione came up with an explanation. "I must have been holding the letter too tightly." She knew, however, that it was actually because Dumbledore was the secret keeper and unless Dumbledore wrote him a note or told him Ryou would never know about Grimmauld place. Ryou nodded his head seeming to accept that explanation and handed the letter back to Hermione.

/Your cousin is a horrible liar. / Bakura shot in annoying Ryou. /Don't you have an attack to plan? / Bakura smirked. /On the contrary, I get to lead. /Ryou mentally shook his head. /Why do I ever expect you to stay out of trouble? /

/Because you're naïve. / "Hermione, are you serious? One of your friends is being targeted?" Phil asked and Hermione blushed having forgotten that her parents were around. "It's not that bad." She tried to reassure them. "It's just some event at the end of every year that gets him in a lot of trouble. And Hogwarts is the safest place to be if you're a witch or a wizard."

"Hermione, I don't want you getting hurt." Her mom added playing with the idea of having Hermione resign school even though she said it was safe."Mom, it's important for me to have my education." Her father frowned and went to stand in front of her so Ryou stepped to the wall of the room. "Hermione, we need to be sure you're safe and you said it yourself, the school is in danger of shutting down."

"Then I'll come back if it shuts down. Mom, father, I can't just skip out on my education. Any of it." Her parents exchanged a look before heaving a sigh. "Hermione, we're going to let you go but the second you're in danger you _need_ to come home." She said kindly. "I will mom. Now, we should get back to dinner before it all goes cold." And they did as she suggested.

The next few days were uneventful if you disregard Christmas morning and the presents. Hermione got two new books on spells from her parents, a necklace from Ryou, and another owl came by carrying a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans which Hermione pushed away from herself. Her parents also got her a book on anatomy and a new cauldron. Ryou himself got a booster pack for Duel Monsters he figured they had run out and bought in the last couple of days since hearing he liked them, an extension for his Monster World set, and a book: "The correct way to do Voodoo". Bakura liked the last one which was from Hermione.

Ryou also went that night back to Japan via shadow realm and got presents from the rest of the gang. Well, the ones who trusted him. So Yugi, Serenity, and Mai gave him presents in the end. Yugi, 100 pounds from all of his prize money; Serenity, a 1,000 piece puzzle of the blue-eyes white dragon; and Mai, a keychain that said, 'I'm the center of my universe. Now bow.' Apparently she thought it was clever and Bakura loved it so Ryou gave it to him. He also dropped by Egypt and Malik gave him one of those Santa hats and showed him where his father was staying. There was the chance to go see him but Ryou decided not to so instead he left a short not.

_Merry Christmas Dad._

_-Ryou_

'I wonder if he just threw it away…' Ryou randomly thought as he strapped on his short sword and grabbed a pair of jeans Bakura had modified to have no pocket on the right side so that Ryou could grab the handle from there. He also tucked one into a false pocket in his coat and his pocket knife in his back pocket. Being cautious, he also tucked one into his coat sleeve and the miniature one again went to his sock. ' Bakura would be proud…'

The rest of his knives were stored in the shadow realm in case he didn't come back. He'd have to come all the way into the house for his luggage though; which was also packed. 'Now to get Hermione out of the house.'

He found her reading her anatomy book by the electric fireplace on a giant bean bag. "Hermione, would you take a walk with me?" She looked up from her book before grabbing a book mark. "Sure. Let me get my coat." So Ryou waited in front of the door and just two minutes later Hermione joined him.

They left in silence and found themselves on a familiar path. They didn't even reach the end of the block when Ryou stopped. It was a few more steps before Hermione noticed and looked to the house they were in front of; the house where Ryou used to live. "Do you know who lives there now?" He asked distantly as if he didn't even know he was asking.

"A small family. Two girls, one boy. The father is a software programmer. Their family name is Tares (Tars)." Ryou just looked forlornly at the house. It was different now. The fence had been repainted and the open view through the window showed a brunette girl who looked about 7 playing with a dog. Ryou's own memory of the family came back. Board games with his family, hide and seek with Amane and Hermione, receiving the ring, the first time he woke up and found his friends lifeless, his father slapping him and telling him it was his fault with all his freakiness that got Amane and his mom killed, doing puzzles all alone, his father saying Hermione had already left for boarding school without a good-bye…

Ryou was startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Ryou." Hermione said and Ryou just gave a quick smile and moved away from the hand. "It's fine. It couldn't be helped." He started walking on and Hermione followed neither sure where they would end up. The answer was simple as Ryou passed a familiar batch of trees. They were at the park. This was the same bunch of pictures the picture Bakura had given him back was taken. He walked over to the swings and sat down facing the trees. He heard the swing beside him creek as Hermione sat down.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Ryou broke the silence. "I wonder what it would be like if they were still here." Hermione stopped pushing her swing back and forth letting what little momentum she had die off slowly. "I don't know. Different?" she offered as the only answer she could find. Ryou smiled wryly at the simple comment. "Yeah, you'd think that." 'Would I have ended up in Japan? Answer: Yes. Bakura would've taken us there no matter what. Would all the incidents still have happened? Answer: Yes. Bakura wouldn't have just stopped. All the moving around? Answer: Yes. Having family that talked to me… maybe. But… Hermione's family just didn't know where I was. But they talk to me… Things wouldn't be different.' He finally decided.

He looked towards Hermione who was giving him a questioning look. "Destiny. All the major events in my life still would have happened. Just under different circumstances." Hermione seemed to be resisting rolling her eyes. "Oh please don't tell me you buy into fate and seeing into the future." Ryou's thoughts went to Ishuzu and all that he had seen. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's fine." Hermione redirected her attention to the trees. "How's Uncle Haru doing?" Ryou shrugged. "He's in good health. He loves his work." It was said with a sort of longing. A soft wind blew through the air so Hermione pulled her hat down a little further. "We should probably be getting back." She suggested before they heard the first of the explosions.

Both their heads snapped to behind them and they saw smoke rising from some houses off to the left. Hermione immediately stood up and grabbed her wand. Two more blasts sounded and the destruction could be seen from where they were. "I have to warn my parents!" she shouted as she dashed off along a shortcut out of the park. "Hermione!" Ryou called after her but didn't give chase. He knew that they wouldn't be harmed. Their home, maybe; them, no.

'Now to wait for Bakura.' Ryou swung himself back and forth half listening to the destruction and screams in the background. He heaved a sigh. 'I really shouldn't be used to things like this.' /But I'm around. / Bakura mind whispered as two arms went around his waist. Ryou leaned back into the touch. This was the first physical contact they'd had since splitting the morning Ryou went to the airport on the 21st; almost a whole week.

After a moment Bakura leaned around and kissed Ryou showing all the love he could through such a simple action. There was no tongue, no demand, no lust; just a short pressing together of the lips. "Am I leaving with you?"Ryou asked when they were done. "Yes. You did remember to pack your bag didn't you?"

Ryou smiled. "Of course." They took each other's hands and walked along the same short cut Hermione had taken all the while coming closer to the sounds of battle. Suddenly Bakura put his arm in front of Ryou stopping him. "What is it?" They were both silent for a minute before Bakura cursed in Egyptian earning a disapproving look from Ryou. "The Order must have arrived. There are people fighting back."

"But, how are we going to get out of here then?" Ryou was distraught. Sure he wanted to see his family but having Bakura so near after so long reminded him where his heart truly led. Ryou could feel the wheels in Bakura's mind working. "Ryou, you're going to make a dash for your aunt and uncle's house and I'm going to join the fight. I have a bargain to lead this attack so I need to be there. I don't want you going through the shadow realm alone so getting out is going to be the hard part for you. After that you just have to get to me." 'And don't let anyone know that we know each other.' Was the unspoken end of the plan.

Ryou nodded and they held hands until they were almost at the end of the fenced in short cut and with one last look they both ran to do their separate tasks. Ryou kept low dodging a couple spells that flew his way and cleared the battle that was waging, oddly enough, in front of the house he used to live in. He could hear Bakura's laugh and ran faster ducking into the house without closing the door. He dashed up the stairs and stopped himself just short of running into Hermione.

"Ryou! Oh thank goodness you're ok! When I got home and you weren't behind me I was so worried, and then the Order arrived and I was worried you had gotten caught in the crossfire." Hermione rushed. "Come on!" she grabbed one of his hands and pushed him into his room. "Pack your things! It isn't safe to be here anymore if You-Know-Who is attacking! We're going to a safe house with the Order."

"Ryou picked up his suitcase a sense of dread washed over him. He had overlooked his cousin. Bakura wasn't going to like this… /Kura, my cousin is telling me to pack so I can leave with her and the Order! What are we going to do? / Bakura growled through their minds and Ryou could feel the urge to kill his cousin quite strongly. /Just try and get to me. You'll come back to the fight so they can aparate away with you and you'll just have to reach me first. /

/I'll do my best. / Ryou answered and then Hermione was at his door. "Are you packed?" Ryou nodded his head and then she grabbed his arm and he barely grabbed his suitcase before he was flying down the stairs; trying not to trip.

They were out the door before Ryou even noticed and h hit his hand on the mailbox as Hermione had them rush across the lawn getting some snow in his shoes. Ryou tried to make his movements jerky so she would let go but her death grip held fast. They were quick nearing the battle and a woman with bright blue hair turned towards them. Her eyes widened as they got to Ryou but she took Hermione's arm. "Come on. We don't have time to waste now."

Ryou tried to twist out of Hermione's grasp desperately one more time as he looked across the battle field. There was Bakura fighting a shabby looking man in a grimy overcoat. He felt like he was getting squished and then he knew what was happening. They were aparating with him. /No! / He yelled through the mind link and Bakura looked over and met his eyes for a split second before he was gone.

~5 minutes before~

Bakura had just let go of Ryou's hand when he dashed into the fight. He took out a separate short sword than the one Ryou had and pissed off all the wizards by using it to deflect all their spells. He surveyed the battle and caught sight of Albus Dumbledore. 'I should go introduce myself.' He thought and so he did. He made his way towards where he and that stuck up flamingo were dueling. What was his name again? Malfou? Malfoo? Did it even start with an M?

Deciding it didn't matter he saw Ryou duck into his relatives house from the corner of his eye before dramatically announcing his presence. He gave a menacing laugh; not a crazed one. "Aren't you a little old to be doing this?" he taunted and got Dumbledore's attention. "On the contrary I find it quite good exercise." He countered bringing his wand about to face Bakura. Bakura felt himself getting looked over and saw the slight confusion in aged eyes as they noticed the lack of a mask or robes. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure Mr…" he tailed off so Bakura indulged him.

"You may call me Yami." He gave a small mock bow. "How nice to meet you Albus Dumbledore." He almost missed his reply over Ryou's panic. /Kura, my cousin is telling me to pack so I can leave with her and the Order! What are we going to do? / Bakura had a strong urge to kill Ryou's cousin. How dare she keep him from what was his? "Would that be a first name or a last name?" Dumbledore questioned so he kept all his inner thoughts off of his face. "Perhaps it's both."

In the back of his mind he came up with a course of action for Ryou. /Just try and get to me. You'll come back to the fight so they can aparate away with you and you'll just have to reach me first. / with an answering /I'll do my best. /the link went dead and so did his conversation with Dumbledore. Bellatrix – one of the few people who's name he ha bothered to remember – shot one of those annoying curses at Dumbledore who just barely dodged and a scruffy looking man in a ragged coat stumbled in front of him. Bakura took a sniff. "Werewolf? I wasn't aware that the other side had those."

His eyes widened before narrowing. "How did you know?" Bakura lazily looked towards his short sword and played with it a bit. "Simple really. You smell." He got a firm grip on his blade and was about to attack when a sudden /No! / came down the mind link. Bakura glanced around just in time to meet Ryou's frightened eyes before he was gone. Bakura focused his anger on his opponent slashing and drawing blood. "Have you ever heard that you have terrible luck?" The man's eyes widened and then he aparated away. Bakura resisted the urge to scream; he had an image to keep up after all.

"So now what?" the flamingo pompously stated seeing as all the Order members had left. Bakura just gave him a look that said 'what makes you think you can speak to me you useless worm?' and said, "We came to attack the town. Or do you want to call it in because you failed in battle and must run away like the foolish Order?" Everyone chuckled at the comment and the flamingo just seethed. "I will report your insolence to the Lord."

"And tell him what? That you wanted to stop the attack just because the Order came and left already?" More chuckles. "Now the rest of you! We have a town that's only half blown up." There were a few cheer before they all ran off and screams thickened the air. Bakura himself went to the park and set a fire before watching it from the swing Ryou had been sitting on.

~Ryou~

Ryou hated traveling: mostly because he always remembered moving when he was younger but also because there weren't many comfortable forms of transportation. Aparting, he decided, was one of his least favorites. He felt squished on all sides and it burned slightly because it was saturated with the foreign magic. They landed n front of a doorway and a piece of paper was shoved underneath his nose. "Memorize this." The blue haired woman demanded so Ryou looked at in and then the numbers on the side of the door.

_The Order of the Phoenix can be found  
at Number 12, Grimmauld Place._

'Why did they give me a piece of paper that says where I already am?' he wondered and then he was being pushed inside. As soon as they were inside the paper was taken away and lit on fire. "Hermione!" someone called and Ryou directed his attention to where two teenage boys were thumping down the stairs before rushing his cousin. "Hermione, are you all right? We heard there was an attack."

Hermione rushed to reassure them. "I'm fine, just a bit shaken up. If anything I bet my cousin is more surprised." It was then that the two boys seemed to notice he was there. "He has white hair!" the red head burst out and got a smack on the head from Hermione. "Ron! Don't be rude!"

"It's fine. A lot of people are surprised about that." Ryou gave a soft smile. The black haired boy Ryou knew was Harry Potter studied him a bit before more people came through the door and there were gasps. "Somebody contact Madame Pomphrey." An old but commanding voice said and they saw the man Bakura had been facing being supported through the door by an old man Ryou assumed was Dumbledore. "Lupin!" Harry called out upon seeing the deep gash on the man's chest.

Ryou was struck with the horrible realization of what had happened. It was Bakura. Ryou forced himself not to throw up right then and watched as they moved across the hall to a hallway and then move along it out of sight. "Ryou?" His cousin tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder and he flinched away almost violently. Shocked eyes looked at Hermione before recognition sank in. "Sorry. It was just a bit…" he trailed off not quite sure how he wanted to end that sentence. He wasn't surprised that Bakura had done it and he had seen worse injuries but it never got better. Seeing someone hurt always made him sick to his stomach.

Rawr! I just looked back through my original plot for this and I like it more but when I was writing I didn't bother to check and now it's all wrong! Shit! What to do now? I don't want to rewrite everything. T^T (More like, I wrote this and I really like it and I want to write it the other way more but I don't want to get rid of this.) This sucks! Plus we have a new crappy keyboard and I'm sick during the summer! Screw this story. I'm going to go watch Evangelion. So yeah, I might repost it when I redo it. 'Till then, I'll leave this up for about a week.

Omg! It's the day after posting the first chapter now and the reviews and favorites/alerts are insane! I hate myself now. T^T This is all I have for this story because it's wrong! Everything from the lemon onwards is wrong! (That doesn't mean having the lemon was wrong; it's the conversation afterwards that is.)Argh! I need a vote! This is so popular but I prefer the plot I have written down! I have no plot if it goes this way! T^T Ok peeps, I need reviews so that I know whether to try and continue this severely modifying the plot (ew) or if you all wouldn't be to pissed if I rewrote it the correct way. Please? (puppy dog eyes) *sets Ryou on you with puppy dog eyes*


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, so I'm going to try (pathetically) to salvage this and bring in the original plot. T^T Oh, and to one of my reviewers who thought Ryou was going to be a spy, I have another story about that. ^^ (not posted) btw, I 3 all my reviewers and shit! So many alerts and favorites! Don't inflate my ego! It already annoys my friends! . (Don't stop either!)

Updates are planned to be weekly but I suck with schedules so…. I'm not that sure. Btw, I wrote chapter two and this one all in the last 48 hours and I have been sick for the last week so shove it all up your asses! (sorry! That was so incredibly rude!) I'm flying almost blind here since I have to mix new plot and old and the story is shorter because I cut out a whole chappy in the last one. T^T

Please give me a break. I am really trying here.

(Why do I act like I'm being harassed when no one has said anything negative on my story or pressured me? Damn I need my head checked.)

(P.S. One of my reviews was unnatural. They told me to take my time. O.O Why is everyone so kind to me? G-d, why!)

Oh yeah, the t-shirt in the last chapter was inspired by one of my friends actually saying that stuff I said should be on t-shirts. I thought it would be hilarious just to write that. ^^

Hermione was surprised at how strong Ryou's reaction to Lupin being hurt was and flinching away like that almost hurt her. 'Why would he flinch so badly? I barely touched him.' She thought and listened as Harry spoke up. "Horrible." Hermione noted that his fist was clenched so tightly that she could see his bones in his knuckles. "It's horrible."

"Harry, we're all upset about Lupin getting hurt but there's nothing you can do about it." Kingsley said from the side startling them all a bit as they hadn't noticed that he was still in the room. "But there should be!" Harry near shouted.

"But there isn't. Go back to what you were doing. Keeping out of our way is the best thing you can do right now." Harry just fumed at being treated like a child but there was nothing else he could do. He stormed off and Ron and Hermione hurried to catch up to him Ryou tentatively following them not sure where he should go.

They went up two flights of stairs before Harry took off along the hallway and marched into a room with two beds Ryou assumed was Harry's and Ron's. He stormed around for a few moments before Hermione decided to stop him. "Harry. You know he's right."

Harry rounded on her. "No, he's wrong. We should be out there doing something not sitting around here while Voldemort keeps attacking everyone. This is the third one during the break. And there are rumors that Voldemort has a new powerful ally." He took a deep breath trying to stop yelling at his friends; that hadn't done him any good during the summer.

"Harry," Hermione started and paused to see if he was going to go off on her again. "I know how you feel but we have to leave it up to them. We're not fully trained wizards and he's after you. We can't just send you on the front lines; that's giving him exactly what he wants." Harry ran his fingers back through his hair frustrated that Hermione was right.

No one said anything for a few moments so Hermione decided it was time for introductions. She cleared her throat, "Harry, Ron, this is my cousin, Ryou." Harry inclined his head in acknowledgment before studying him. Ron on the other hand was much more vocal about his opinion. "Hermione, are you sure he's related to you? He has white hair even."

Hermione pursed her lips at him. "Ron. My cousin is an albino; of course he has white hair. Now don't be rude." Ron just shrugged it off and turned back to Ryou. "I guess it's nice to meet you then." He said and held out his hand. Ryou shook it accordingly.

"It's nice to meet you to." He smiled softly making Ron blush a bit. "Y-yeah." Ron backed away. For lack of anything better to do Ryou took off his coat and folded it over his arm when he remembered something. "Hermione, where am I going to be sleeping?"

"I'm not sure but you'll probably stay here with Harry and Ron." Said boy's eyes widened. "He's staying?" Harry asked before a look from Hermione shushed him. "Ryou, do you remember the way here?" He nodded his head. First rule of thievery, even if don't know your way there remember your way back. "Good. Could you go get our bags? You can leave your coat here."

"Sure." Ryou gave another smile and did as he was asked. It was clear they needed to talk without him there. Ryou left the room and both boys rounded on Hermione. "You sure never said anything about how effeminate your cousin was." Ron accused. He had thought it was a girl until he remembered that Hermione had already said Ryou was a boy.

"Well it didn't seem important to mention. I never thought you would ever actually meet." Hermione explained briskly before Harry stepped up. "But Hermione, why is he even here let alone staying?" Hermione started removing her coat revealing a white sweater. "I'm not sure. When the Order members arrived Dumbledore told me that I was coming back to Grimmauld place with them and that my cousin would be coming too."

Hermione walked over to Harry's bed as it was nearer and dumped her coat and then her hat and gloves onto it in a pile. "Why would Dumbledore want your cousin here?" Harry asked. Hermione resisted sighing as she answered. "I don't know Harry. But what about you two? What have you been doing while you're here?" she redirected the conversation not having answers and hating to admit it.

Ron groaned. "It's horrible. Christmas was fine but for the past two days it's been nothing but cleaning and trying to get into the meetings. Harry got into just one and he says there are a lot of wizards he doesn't know there." Harry nodded his agreement. The Order was growing and Voldemort was taking action.

Hermione contemplated the new information before deciding to dig deeper on one subject. "You said You-Know-Who had a new ally. Do you know anything about them?" Harry shook his head. "No. We heard that he had a new ally and it has everyone scared. Apparently this guy has a lot of power but he hasn't been seen yet. But the weird thing is, he's not a wizard."

"Harry, are you certain?" Hermione asked. Voldemort was all about wizard superiority so him working with someone who wasn't a wizard was unthinkable. "Well, not really. He has power but no one is sure what it is."

They were interrupted from their conversation when the Portrait of Mrs. Black began screaming. With quickly exchanged looks they all rushed to the stairs where they noticed something strange about the yells. They were still shrill but she sounded… scared?

~A Few Minutes Earlier~

Ryou walked down the stairs wondering why he had been brought here. It made sense for them to bring Hermione but Ryou had no involvement with wizards. Well, not the light side at least. Did Bakura's involvement include him?

He quickly got to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed the suitcases. He took a look around the room. It was obviously supposed to be a grand entrance but it was littered in thick dust. He could make out a vague outline of a chandelier but he couldn't be sure from the monotone of the room. The walls were mostly bare except for tapestries that couldn't be viewed properly. Along the far wall was something of interest though. Right next to the hallway they had taken the man down to treat his injuries.

'Don't think on it.' Ryou reminded himself and took the suitcases towards the staircase which was to the side of the black curtains. He paused in front of them before placing down the suitcases. There was something magical behind that curtain and it was calling to him almost to go look. He edged forward and barely lifted a corner of the curtains when they flew all the way apart.

"TRAITORS! IN MY HOUSE! MUDBLOODS! DISGUSTING FILTH! OUT!" Ryou barely had time to take in that it was a woman of moderate looks in a portrait that was yelling at him before their eyes met and hers widened in front. 'Oh no…' Ryou knew that look. It was someone who knew his power and knew he had it and feared it with good reason. "DEMON! BE OUT OF MY HOUSE AT ONCE! LEAVE! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY SOUL! MONSTER! CREATURE!"

A whole group barreled through the hallway they had taken the man down and he heard Hermione and her friends come down the stairs but Ryou could just stare at the portrait that recognized him and called him a monster. "LEAVE! YOU BLOOD THIRSTY BEAST!" A man with scraggly hair tried yelling back at her. "Shut up you filthy old hag!"

"BLOOD BETRAYER! MUDBLOODS! DEMONS! SUCH FILTH UNDER MY ROOF! BEGONE! MY FOREFATHERS MUST BE ROLLING IN THEIR GRAVES FROM SUCH DEFILEMENT OF THE HOUSE OF BLACK!" Ryou took a step back. "Shut the curtains!" someone yelled and a few people ran between him and the portrait struggling vainly to close the curtains again. "DEMONS! INSIDE MY HOUSE! LEAVE AND LEAVE NO TRACE!"

Ryou minutely opened his mouth in shock and she gave a scream of pure terror that caused everyone to stare at her. She was now backed up against the backdrop of her portrait trying to make herself as small as possible and get away from Ryou who she focused terrified eyes on. "NO! DON'T TAKE MY SOUL YOU BEAST! TOTURER! SENDING PEOPLE TO HELL! MONSTER! CREATURE! FIEND! LEAVE! DO NOT HARM ME! I WELCOME MUDBLOODS BEFORE I ACCEPT YOU TO WALK IN MY HOUSE! DEMON!" she gave one more terrified stare before the curtains closed on their own and all eyes turned towards Ryou who was terrified himself at this point.

He stared at where the curtains came together for a minute before he ran. He dashed up the stairs figuring less people would be up there. He just needed to get away. 'She knew. She knew I was a demon.' Ryou ignored the voice in his head that told him it wasn't true along with the pounding he could mentally feel Bakura doing on his soul room door. His panic over rode everything and he just kept running up the stairs as far as he could stopping a bit before the top floor because that was always an obvious place to check. He dashed along the hallway there and found a room with a bed that had no one in it. Perfect. He dashed inside and placed a chair in front of the door so no one could come in and curled up in a corner.

~Bakura's POV~

He had been lazing around the Riddle Manner listening to the flamingo rant about him with his spying abilities when his hikari's light was almost completely shut off from him. Almost falling out of the chair he had been leaning back in he was in the corridor between their souls before the wooden chair clanked loudly on the floor.

Bakura took one glance at Ryou's door before he was mentally yelling 'No!' Ryou's door was covered in black fabric that shimmered to create words at their leisure. Demon, Monster, Soul Stealer, Creature, Freak, Unholy, Despicable, Torturer… things he had been called because of what Bakura had done. Underneath where the words of hate appeared were whispered screams that echoed without sound; the cries of those that had lost their souls and all the pain in the world Ryou thought he caused.

Bakura rushed to the door and began intermittently hitting the door and calling for Ryou and trying to rip the fabric that only stretched with the pull or went so close to the door his fingers bled trying to get it. When the words stopped shimmering and just kept coming and the fabric turned a shade deeper Bakura decided that it wouldn't do. He would lose Ryou at this rate. He had only seen Ryou's door this bad once before and that was when Ryou had attempted to kill himself. 'Shit, not again…'

Ryou's door always had a black piece of fabric hanging from the top that he could never get rid of but most times in the last six months it had barely been noticeable. Like a stain you forget to remember. There was no getting through the door at this point so Bakura had to go directly to Ryou's body and try to reach him from there. Quickly summoning the shadows he appeared in a dingy room which he only noticed because of all the dust Ryou was sitting in.

Ryou was shaking back and forth slightly clenching his fists hard enough so Bakura was worried about the bones popping out of his knuckles. His pants would definitely have holes where his nails were digging in although Ryou thankfully kept his nails short so he couldn't draw blood. His eyes looked dead as he mumbled sounds not even forming all the way into words before the next word started to form.

The situation needed to be handled cautiously so Bakura tried to reach Ryou through words but he was always one for action more than words. "Ryou, can you hear me? Ryou, you have to listen to me. No one thinks you're a demon, they're wrong. Ryou…" he slowly edged closer almost silently from all his training as a thief. Slowly reaching out he barely touched Ryou's shirt when he jerked around. The first tears fell from Ryou's eyes as recognition slowly spread into his eyes. Bakura dropped onto his knees spreading his arms wide and Ryou dived into them full out bawling. "He knew, Bakura. She knew and now they all know. The all know that I'm evil. And they're all going to hate me." Bakura just rubbed Ryou's head and let him ramble while mentally prodding Ryou's door and feeling it give. He almost sighed in relief when the memory of what had gotten Ryou this way entered his mind. That woman would die…

Bakura seethed on the inside but calming Ryou was more important at this point. "Ryou. Ryou!" he took said boys shoulders and shook him a bit bringing him back so that Ryou was looking him in the eyes. He was still crying but the rambling had stopped so that was good at least. "Ryou. That woman is wrong. You're not the demon, I am. She's just a crazy, dead painting obsessed with her house. You're an Angel Ryou, don't listen to their lies."

"But-" Ryou tried to protest. "No buts. That woman is insane and doesn't know what she was talking about." Ryou's tears started to dry and he went limp in Bakura's arms so Bakura held him again. "You know everyone downstairs is looking for you?" Ryou shook his head against Bakura's chest. Bakura searched a bit and could hear his hikari's cousin. "on! How can you say that?"

"Well Mrs. Black was scared of him! Hermione, your cousin isn't normal if that bat is scared of him." A male voice replied. "Hermione, I agree with Ron. There's something not right with him." Bakura could just see Hermione crossing her arms. "Even if there is something strange he's still my family. Now you two are going to help me look for him!" and Hermione stomped away leaving the two boys to follow.

"Your cousin is upset." Ryou moved to get more comfortable so his head was on Bakura's chest, his arms wrapped around his waist, and his legs brought close so he was almost using Bakura as a pillow. There was silence for a few minutes where at one point they heard very loud thumping on the stairs and yells of "Ryou! Ryou! Where did that brat go?" that quickly continued above them. "He's checking the top floor." Bakura confirmed what Ryou thought would happen. He had run up so they would assume he would go as high as possible. "I should go back…" Ryou said after a time but Bakura could tell Ryou didn't really want to. There would be questions about the encounter and Ryou needed as few reminders of it as possible.

Ryou sat up all the way and looked to the door before giving Bakura a suspicious look. "How'd you know he went all the way to the top floor?" Bakura smirked. This would distract him well. "Do you remember what I told you about listening through the shadows?"

Ryou thought for a moment as he wiped his eyes of mostly dried tears. "You said that you could turn just one of your senses into pure shadow and use it in any normal way." Bakura nodded his head and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Correct. You can also use the shadows as your sight, taste, sense of touch, and smell. Your body would still be here but in essence you're a part of the shadows. Once you do it enough you develop a sixth sense for the shadows and if you want to know something you just have to concentrate on what you want you want to know."

Bakura came back to the real world when Ryou giggled softly. "You always sound like a real teacher when you teach me these things." He giggled again in happiness of a side to Bakura that only he ever was allowed to see and rarely at that. Bakura was annoyed that he had done it again but happy that Ryou was giggling again. It lacked the normal tinkling sound it had but it was much better than the state Bakura found him in. "Did you even pay attention to what I was saying?" Ryou nodded his head. "You can connect with the shadows and it can develop into a sixth sense where you just have to focus to find something out."

It was then that they heard footsteps sounding further down the hall followed by the accompanying rattle of doorknobs and Alohamoras, which Bakura had already told Ryou was an unlocking spell, being said. Bakura stood up to create a portal through the shadows; he had a villain's base to be at. Ryou quickly stood as well and went to Bakura hugging him around the waist. "Thank you." He said softly to avoid the people in the hall hearing. And after all, Bakura had left his post at Voldemort's headquarters for him and comforted him.

Bakura gently took Ryou's chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted it up to kiss Ryou gently and Ryou's curiosity got to him. "Did you mean it when you said that I'm an angel?" Bakura just smirked and kissed him again a bit more roughly this time before whispering into Ryou's ear, "My angel." With that he went to one of the walls more covered in shadows and sunk through it back to the room the 'dark lord' had given him to use.

Ryou held it in as he wanted more than anything to have Bakura stay or go with him but he had a duty, he couldn't just disappear. Ryou moved the chair back to its starting position silently before setting up his act. He sat at the foot of the bed on the floor and brought his knees up to his chest, his head down. Now to act like he was truly upset – which he still was a bit but he would play it up.

"Ryou? Are you in here?" Hermione asked as the doorknob began to turn and Ryou almost answered her. "Ryou!" she said it in almost relief before yelling down the hall. "I found him!" She quickly came and knelt by him. "Ryou?"

He lifted his head up and pretended to wipe some tears. "Oh, Hermione. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting a painting to yell at me." He said half truthfully. She seemed to accept the explanation and patted his back. "That's Mrs. Black. Horrid woman. We can't remove the portrait so we keep it covered." Hermione stated firmly. Ryou nodded his head before letting it hang again. "Sorry, I caused so much trouble for everyone."

"It's nothing. Even I was curious when I first got here. Although, you shouldn't have run off like that. You had everyone worried." Hermione scolded before standing up. "Now, we should take you downstairs and Mrs. Weasley will probably make you a nice cup of tea." Hermione offered her hand and Ryou took it gingerly getting to his feet. "Thank you." He gave a soft smile and left in front of Hermione after giving her hand a squeeze to show that he really meant it.

Hermione looked perplexedly after her cousin. Mrs. Black had been terrified of him and even called him a Demon, a Torturer, and talked about Ryou not taking her soul which was far too similar to the incidents when he was younger to be pure coincidence. She had also said worrying things like Ryou had the power to send people to hell. There was also that Ryou had just run off which Hermione couldn't blame him for, who would stay after being told those things?

But it was where he hid that got her. He ran up the stairs as if to avoid everyone but instead of going all the way up to where Buckbeak was he stopped the floor below. It could be that he ran out of adrenaline, but that was unlikely. He had gone partially down the hallway and not locked the door. Instead Hermione noticed some dust still stirring in the corner as if he had been moving around over there before.

Then there was getting here in the first place. The first staircase only went to the first a second floors the latter being where they had gone with Harry and Ron. There was a separate staircase to go higher but when no one found him on the first or second floor Sirius went up to the top floor and didn't find him. He had thought out where he hid so he wouldn't be found for a while.

She also noticed how Ryou found his way back as if he walked here all the time. Hermione had gotten lost several times when she first got here but he didn't have trouble getting here or back to the main hall. There was something going on with her cousin and she would find out; when he wasn't upset.

Almost before she knew they were at the landing to the main hall where a severe looking man with a slight tan that verged on sunburn stood. Medium length black hair pulled into a pony tail at the nape of his neck. He looked intimidating just standing his arms flat at his sides because of the glare in his eyes.

Hermione resisted the urge to shiver. That gaze had more hatred than Snape's did for Harry but somehow, the man looked familiar. But it felt like it was wrong to see him in the traditional black wizard robes. She soon realized who it was as Ryou walked down the remainder of the stairs. He stood in front of the man and all eyes assembled there – Harry and Ron who had come up behind Hermione, Fred and George who were behind them, Kingsley, Mad-eye, and Snape who were standing to the side of the man, and Ginny and Mrs. Weasley coming up the stairs from the kitchen – watched as Ryou said a single word. "Father."

Almost as soon as the word was out a resounding slap could be heard throughout the room and several people gasped at both the revelation and the action. Mrs. Weasley immediately covered Ginny's eyes who just pushed her mother's hands away. Ryou slowly pivoted his head back remembering not to wince so that no one would know how much it hurt. He kept his head low not meeting his father's eyes a second time.

His father's voice was harsh as he spoke. "You, are a disappointment. And disrespectful. I pay for your rent and what do I see? You frivolously on vacation in Egypt. I listen to Dumbledore and come to help in the war so I'm warned to protect my family. What do I find? You on vacation with your cousin. And when I have them bring you here to make sure you're safe you cause a ruckus and a valued member is injured because you were to slow to get out of there." Each word cut like a knife and most of the occupants of the room could feel the pain Haru Bakura was inflicting on his son.

"Anything to say?" Ryou mumbled so only those closest could hear. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend for any of this to happen." He got slapped again and most occupants in the room were surprised that Ryou didn't get whiplash from the speed and ferocity. "Don't speak such lies, Demon. You're an abomination. Don't think you're fooling anyone. Even that painting could tell what a monster you are."

"Haru, what are you saying? That's your so-" Mrs. Weasley tried to stop him before he cut her off. "And that's exactly right. He's my son. A disgrace." The whole time his eyes never left Ryou's figure who had finally decided to move his head back to its normal position; twitching his fingers because of the pain instead of a normal wince. It would be no good to be seen. "So that's all? You can't even deny what you are because it's true. You're a curse, a curse upon everyone you meet. I should've sent you to Siberia. There's a chance you'd die there and anyone you end up killing it would be a blessing for them."

"Mr. Bakura!" Molly Weasley gasped that this man, although a bit hardened she had always thought he was a good person, would do this to his own son. Ryou continued to be silent so his father sent him a worse glare. "Forgotten proper English? Then maybe you'll know this. **Demon who haunts my house and my mind, begone from my home and leave my dreams in peace**." He said the last part in Arabic and Ryou knew it from his time with Malik. It was an old saying when you had nightmares to ask that they leave but the measure of cruelty in his voice and that he dared directed it at a person meant that he considered that person a plague and was asking for the g-ds to take him to Amett to be eaten.

There's not much worse you could say to a person.

/That asshole… I should feed him to Amett myself. / Bakura muttered angrily but Ryou denied it. /No! He's just really frustrated and probably doesn't know what it means when you say it to a person. It's fine Bakura. / despite Ryou's pleas there was a note of doubt and Bakura plotted the worst ways he could think of to murder the bastard. Something that would make a crucifixion seem generous.

"Still nothing to say?" Ryou just looked down and stopped himself from crying. "I'm very sorry." He bowed in a proper Japanese manner but that just upset his father. "Stop your sniveling. Go make yourself useful and clean something of this mess. There's hardly a chance you can kill someone doing that Demon."

"As nice as it would be, you forget that we need to have a discussion with him." Moody cut in relieving almost everyone that this was over. Mr. Bakura glared at him for a moment before turning back to his son. "You will answer all questions asked of you and don't waste our time." Ryou just stood from the bow he was still in and nodded his head. His father still thought of him of a Demon but at least he was talking to Ryou for the first time in almost three years.

Hermione was aghast at her uncle's behavior and Ryou just took it! How bad had things been between those two? This was practically abuse! And how could anyone think of Ryou as a demon? Hermione knew that her uncle blamed Ryou for his wife and daughters death but to the extent that he considered Ryou a murderer? This was unreasonable and no one did anything to stop him except Moody. But then the question was, what would they have to discuss with Ryou?

Kingsley, Moody, and Snape went down the stairs where they would probably be more members of the Order. Ryou tried to follow them but his father grabbed his hair as he tried to pass him. "You should respect your elders." He started forward dragging Ryou by his hair and they all caught him wince. Mrs. Weasley was still in the doorway to the stairs and gave him a look so Haru let Ryou go. Ryou had to put out a foot to steady himself after almost being thrown by his hair and straightened himself out. Ginny tried to reach out and help him but her mother held her back; this wasn't the place or time.

The watched Ryou follow his father before Mrs. Weasley went to follow them. Before she went all the way down she caught Ginny trying to follower her down. "Ginny, go upstairs." She directed. "But, mum-" she was cut off as her mother repeated herself in a tone that left no room for arguments. "Go upstairs Ginerva." Ginny huffed and went up the stairs stopping at where the golden trio and the twins were. The twins exchanged one look before simultaneously saying, "Extendable ears." Everyone ran to get their own hidden set and met back at the top of the kitchen stairs.

Ok, I meant to put in the next scene to but I just couldn't get a vibe on it and this feels like a whole chapter. Btw, anyone else want to kill Ryou's dad? *raises own hand*

*phew* So, anyone confused on the fifty different plot lines? And if it gets to confusing you can ask me for clarification although I hope that I do it well enough that no one has to… Also, shocking number of things! I hope I can keep the updates schedule since school is starting. Hmm… maybe this wasn't the best time to post this story?

I think Bakura might have been ooc... but only a little. I just wasn't sure how to write him when he was worried but I'm satisfied with it. And yes, I am making a lot of references to Ryou being an Angel. I just have this one _really_ good line to set up for… although I might be over doing it. Meh. *shrugs* I don't really care.


	4. Chapter 4

Woot! More story! So I have to thank someone because they asked me a questioned about something I forgot about. '^.^ So seriously, ask questions. It makes me at least look smarter. Thanks so much for all the alerts and favorites! XD Also, to the person who said I deserve the ego boost, no. I _really_ don't need one.

Btw, have I ever given a disclaimer? Well, just in case:

Of course not! I'm poor. T^T

Btw, how do I even write this next scene? And do people want Malik in the story because I'd have to make a third string of major plot to entwine him into the story but I really feel like writing him.

In the kitchen the atmosphere was cold and frozen despite the fire burning softly at the end of the room. Ryou pulled the shadows a bit closer not feeling safe under the discretion of so many people. His father took a seat after a greasy looking man. /He's a spy. / Bakura cut in hoping one) to keep Ryou's mind from being shrouded in darkness again and two) to gather more information. /His name is Severus Snape. /

Ryou demurely took a seat next to his father leaving a space between them just too small for a person to actually fit. /For which side? / he asked and cautiously peaked at the spy. Loyalties among people who spied wasn't always strong. Snape caught him looking so Ryou diverted his eyes before he could glare. /Not sure. / Bakura mentally shrugged. /But we're about to find out. /

Ryou stayed alert as Dumbledore (Bakura had made sure Ryou at least knew some of the bigger names in the war) stood at the head of the table and all attention sent to him. "Now, I'm sure you're all aware of why we are having this emergency meeting. Voldemort" winces and shivers went around the room "has begun to move more swiftly. This is the third attack in a week and it was on a purely muggle town. There is also the concern of his unknown ally," a few eyes flashed to Ryou including Dumbledore's sharp ones making him shrink slightly as his father outright glared. "but he has finally decided to show himself although what he can do is still unknown."

"But it is still sure that he is dangerous." Kinsgley stated and Tonks, now with neon green hair that hung to just above her shoulders nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure what it was, but he just felt, evil." Tonks shivered. "If you ask me he's a dementor in a human body."

There were various sounds of outrage at such a thought and Molly Weasley gasped. "Tonks! You can't be serious." As the noise level started to rise Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly enough so they all settled back down literally for those who had started to get out of their seats to argue. Dumbledore waited a moment until he was sure it was quiet before continuing. "Now, today we saw his face and I managed to get his name. The best way I can find to show all of you is to view my own memory."

Dumbledore then drew his wand and flicked it opening a cabinet on the side of the room and bringing forth a shallow but large wooden bowl that shimmered with an almost self luminescent glow. He then placed the end of his wand against his head and withdrew it with a silvery thread that looked like a unicorn hair from Ryou's perspective. /A unicorn Ryou? /

Ryou mentally blushed keeping his face looking surprised and interested. /It's all I could think of that had silvery hair that might shine like that. / He placed the silvery thread into the bowl and returned his wand to his sleeve where he must have some kind of holder for it. "I believe groups of four or five would be best for viewing this." Dumbledore declared and silently everyone stood up and moved into groups all trying to near the bowl.

Ryou's father made a group with the spy, the woman who had tried to stop him from slapping him (Ryou mentally winced now that he wasn't in the moment. He wished his father hadn't done that.), and the misshapen man with a spinning eye. If Ryou hadn't seen so many creatures from the shadow realm he might have been more taken aback at the man's appearance. Ryou stood a bit behind them interested to see what was going on and he was quite surprised when he saw the first group of five all touch the surface and disappear into the bowl.

Ryou took a step back in his surprise and the red headed woman noticed. "Oh there's no need to be alarmed dear, it's just a pensive." Ryou gave her a questioning look so she continued. "It's a place to store your memories so you can view them later." Ryou gave a short "Oh." Before peering around the groups to try and observe the bowl better. /Ne, Bakura. Isn't that sort of like the video tapes in my room that has my past on it? Or the writing on your walls? /

/I believe so. It's a record of our lives that we can always view later just like what they're doing. / Ryou gave a mental nod and gave a slight jump as the people came out and all gave him glares or at least wary looks. /Bakura, what did you do? /

/Besides you? / Ryou mentally swatted him a bit weaker than normal from all the mental stress of the day. /I just played with them a bit and injured the one werewolf. / Ryou's interest peaked at this. /They have werewolfs? I thought all of them joined Voldemort. /

/Apparently one isn't part of the pack. / Ryou watched as three more groups went in and out of the bowl all giving him similar looks as the first group and a thought occurred to Ryou. /Kura, should a say I don't know you? /

/Of course. / Bakura wouldn't make Ryou be under surveillance. That would be good for a number of reasons. One) Ryou would be uncomfortable, two) Ryou wouldn't be able to help him spy, and three) being watched was a pet peeve of both whitenettes although Bakura did like the spotlight he only wanted it when he wanted it, not all the time.

As the people left the bowl they retook their seats behind where the line ended so the people went first were now towards the back of the room with the door. They all mumbled among themselves and Ryou could sense all the glances, some closer to glares, they sent his way. Time seemed to slow as there were just two more groups now and Ryou couldn't help but edge forward to get a better look at the bowl and because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He figured that if he didn't know the situation already (like he was supposed to) he would want to know why everyone was glaring at him after going into there.

So time slowed for him and the creeks as people shifted their weight on their feet and on the table seemed to echo around the room and as the group before his father's went Ryou noticed Dumbledore with his wand on the edge of the bowl, probably making sure that they were all viewing the right memory Ryou supposed. 'I wonder what kind of memories are in there…' Ryou thought vaguely. He knew Dumbledore was a big name even before the current war so he must have seen some interesting things.

Soon enough his father's group was in front of the pensive and they just stood there. Ryou looked to his father sparingly wondering what was going on but his father was looking at him and their eyes met. Ryou quickly averted his gaze but a strong hand gripped his forearm painfully. "What are you, stupid? We're not going to wait all day."

Realizing his father had just said he was going to look too Ryou tentatively reached the hand his father wasn't gripping towards the shimmering pool of silver and before he even touched the surface he felt as if he was being pulled in and his stomach did a belly flop. He shut his eyes and stumbled as he felt his feet reconnect with the ground but he stayed upright having learned from his lessons with Bakura and Malik. He opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by people exchanging beams of light and dodging. He quickly collected his thoughts and realized that he was in the battle. He reached out to ask Bakura what was going on when he found the connection blocked.

/Bakura? Bakura! / He panicked in the back of his mind but kept his eyes open. It wasn't till a beam of light exited his arm that he realized he was just watching. It was just a memory. Calmed down slightly he directed his attention towards the fenced path he knew he and Bakura had been unless it was after that and Bakura was already in the fight. He was right with his assumption however and saw himself dash out followed by Bakura rushing into the fight.

He glanced up at his father whose grip had tightened at seeing Bakura rush to the fight. Glancing with solely his eyes he noticed that no one even saw him slip out of the fight and to Hermione's house. He locked eyes on Bakura after that and saw his eyes watching where Ryou had gone; he wasn't surprised. Then his attention was full on the battle and he gave a menacing laugh. Ryou noted how he kept the insanity out of his voice. In the back of his mind he wondered if Bakura practiced his laughs then felt a pang that he couldn't contact Bakura.

He went to a spot he was sure that Dumbledore knew who he was addressing before saying, "Aren't you a little old to be doing this?" Dumbledore turned to him and started talking in a conversational voice that Ryou found quite amazing since he was facing his yami. "On the contrary I find it quite good exercise." They were all standing in a half circle around Dumbledore and his yami now Ryou having no choice but to stay next to his father and the misshapen man: not where he'd prefer to stand.

They sized each other up and Ryou caught the look of confusion in Dumbledore's eyes, probably because of the lack of wizard's robes. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure Mr…" He let the sentence die and Bakura gave an amused smirk (he could tell from experience and knew it looked cruel to everyone else) "You may call me Yami." He said with a mock bow and Ryou almost blew his cover by snorting. 'Yami? Of all things? Yami?' He laughed in the back of his mind as he kept his face looking surprised; after all, this evil looking person was a duplicate of him and he was supposed to have never seen him before. He felt his father's gaze on him and bit his lip as if he were nervous. "How nice to meet you Albus Dumbledore."

It was then that Ryou's eyes really widened in surprise as he heard his own voice. /Kura, my cousin is telling me to pack so I can leave with her and the Order! What are we going to do? / it was accompanied by a wave of panic and Ryou looked around briefly and saw everyone else still watching the confrontation his father's attention away from him once more. He felt the strong urge to kill his cousin again before he realized that he must be able to listen into the mind link from here.

"Would that be a first name or a last name?" Dumbledore questioned and Ryou felt sorry for him. Bakura was angry from the announcement he had just made so there was low chances that Bakura would remain calm but he kept his face clear just as he had taught Ryou to do and answered. "Perhaps it's both." Then Ryou heard more through the mind link. /Just try and get to me. You'll come back to the fight so they can aparate away with you and you'll just have to reach me first. /

/I'll do my best. / was the reply and Ryou couldn't help but notice that he sounded a bit girly at that moment. But then again, he had always been rather feminine. Dumbledore just barely avoided a curse and turned to face with a witch who had maniacal look in her eye and then they were being pulled up. Ryou didn't have the chance to close his eyes and the world was spinning when he landed again. He waited for it to pass and he felt relief from the mind link. Apparently Bakura had been cut off too so Ryou let him see what had just happened. He could feel Bakura studying it and was pulled back to his seat by his father who roughly pushed him down. He kept a wary and slightly scared look on his face but the people around the table glared at him. He started chewing his lip as Dumbledore ordered the pensive back to the cabinet wordlessly before addressing the gathered witches and wizards.

"As you can see, Voldemort's new ally is called Yami and from what we can see is not a wizard." Murmurs broke out along the table and even more people glared at Ryou who shrunk back while trying not to giggle. /Yami? You seriously called yourself Yami? / he mentally laughed that Bakura would use the same name as his enemy. Bakura mentally smiled that Ryou sounded happy before needing to defend himself. /It's a convenient name. /

Ryou let out a small giggle and his father glared daggers. "What, is so funny?" He said it curtly and Ryou quickly reprimanded himself for letting it slip. He went still and stammered out a plausible (and partially true) reply. "He-he's playing wi-with you." Dumbledore leaned forward and gave him more attention as the rest of the room went quiet.

"And why do you say that?" Dumbledore asked. Ryou gulped realistically before saying, "Yami isn't a name; it's Japanese. It means dark." Haru Bakura glared harder at his son. "And what else do you know about this strange ally of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Ryou tucked his head down averting his eyes from his father's gaze and softly muttered, "Nothing, just that he's not telling you his real name." Haru Bakura's attention from his son as the next person began to speak. Ryou was starting to wish he could say more but knew he would never betray Bakura. Even for his father. Snape's sneering voice coated the room. "And what makes you so sure?"

"What news is there Severus?" Dumbledore asked bringing Snape's attention away from Ryou. "At You-Know-Who's headquarters he calls himself Hoshech (חושך)." /Hebrew, Kura? / Ryou asked slightly fascinated. He knew that Bakura knew it from his time in Egypt (and by default Ryou knew it too) but he had never heard Bakura use it except when they spoke it. /I thought it sounded more intimidating. /

Knowing his yami meant 'I felt like it.' he left it alone but knew the spy was waiting for an answer. "I don't know." He said weakly and he could sense the triumph in the air. Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Hmm… so we have one person with two names. Perhaps he is trying to confuse us?" He wondered aloud making everyone think. That did sound very plausible. "Severus, what else do you know about him?"

Sitting up straighter and turning his nose up like a hawk he started what wounded like a report. "Hoshech," he glanced at Ryou as if daring him to question it "keeps to himself and isn't always at meetings. He locks himself in his room doing who-knows-what and yet always has good information. He's also the one who suggested and led all three of the attacks in the last week."

"Absurd." called a balding red-headed man who was short and rather plump but looked as if he was losing weight. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would never hand over control of his forces to someone else." Dumbledore's wise sounding voice spoke before more arguments could arise. "Arthur, it would appear that Voldemort" flinches and shudders went around the room, "listens to Hoshech, whoever he is."

A pause happened and the tension in the air was thick. "Severus, does he get along with any of the Death Eaters?" Everyone redirected attention to the spy. "He talks to Bellatrix for whatever reason but seems to despise the rest of us. Especially Malfoy." /So that's the stuck up flamingo's name. / Almost laughing at his yami's comment he asked, /Stuck up Flamingo? / to which Bakura shrugged. /He acts like a stuck up flamingo. /

"But that doesn't answer the biggest question." said a raggedy looking man with Shaggy black hair who was clenching his fist angrily. "Why," he pointed purposefully at Ryou, "does he look just like Hoshek?" More mummers broke out and Ryou was reminded of why he was here: to answer questions he couldn't answer.

"I don't know sir." Ryou said respectfully. He could never betray Bakura by letting this slip but he hated lying especially when he had promised his father to tell the truth and be helpful. /You never promised to tell the truth. / Bakura piped up as helpful as always so Ryou defended his opinion. /He told me to not waste their time and lying is exactly that. /

Bakura rolled his mental eyes at the absurdity of that statement but let it go."It would appear that their appearances are rather inexplicable at the moment," Dumbledore said cooling all fires before they could get hotter. "but there's another peculiarity. Why only attack muggle towns?" Everyone went quiet as they pondered the question. "Maybe it's a scare tactic?" Ryou said after a few minutes of silence wanting to give them some help since he was there. Bakura snorted in the back of his mind. They both knew it was to keep down suspicions when he came to get Ryou.

Haru Bakura's glare doubled on his son as he stood up and grabbed Ryou roughly by the forearm dragging him out of the seat. Ryou hit his knee on the table trying to get out before he was completely pulled out of there and his opposite ankle got caught on the bench as he was yanked towards the door. Stopping himself from stumbling by hopping on one leg for a moment he quickly rushed for the door trying to keep pace with his father's wide stride. The door was yanked forwards viciously almost and Ryou was almost thrown through it. He stumbled a bit and unconsciously grabbed his wrist and rubbed it. "There's no more help you can offer." His father said before the door was firmly shut behind him. Ryou resisted the urge to cry; his father was angry because he hadn't helped when he should have. 'It's always my fault…'

Bakura sensed the black curtain sneaking back into place slowly cutting him off from his light and knew he needed a distraction. /Ryou, why don't you go see your cousin? I'm sure she's worried by now. / It was a weak excuse but Bakura mentally exhaled as Ryou nodded and slowly made his way back up the stairs trying to conceal a limp. 'That bastard. I'll kill him for hurting Ryou.' And he once again went off to imagine several ways to torture said man.

~Hermione~

They had all gotten extendable ears as quickly as they could but when they were finally all activated it was silent. Ron groaned. "They have spells up again." Ginny and Harry went to remove their extendable ears but Fred and George stopped them. "Wait, can't you hear that?" said one. "Hear what?" Ron asked clearly confused. "Shh. Just be real quiet." said the other so Hermione closed her eyes and listened harder. "Is that…?" she asked after a moment looking back towards the twins who both nodded. "Aye, that it is." Said the first at which point Ron nearly exploded.

"What!" three simultaneous 'shh's quieted him. "If you listen closely Ron you can hear people moving around." Hermione explained and everyone listened harder slowly picking up on boots scuffing the floor and the creek of the table. "Why are they all so quiet?" Ginny asked in a hushed whisper. "Don't know." Harry replied and they all settled on the stairs waiting for something to happen. As time passed series of mumbling could be heard, more and more all the time. Finally, Dumbledore spoke up gaining the full attention of everyone. "As you can see, Voldemort's new ally is called Yami and from what we can see is not a wizard."

There were even more mumblings from below now and the group all exchanged looks. Voldemort working with someone who's not a wizard was unthought-of, yet here was the proof. An out of place giggle was heard and the room went silent but for Ryou's dad's voice. "What, is so funny?" They could almost feel the tension from were they were and listened to Ryou's stuttered reply. "He-he's playing wi-with you." Silence reigned for a minute until Dumbledore spoke up. "And why do you say that?" they all held their breath for a moment wondering what Ryou could possibly mean by that.

"Yami isn't a name; it's Japanese. It means dark." Ryou finally said leaving everyone to wonder about Voldemort's new ally and what Ryou knew about him. "And what else do you know about this strange ally of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Haru Bakura said sounding very stony. "Nothing, just that he's not telling you his real name." Ryou replied before Snape stepped into the conversation. "And what makes you so sure?"

"What news is there Severus?" Dumbledore asked causing everyone to hold their breath. "At You-Know-Who's headquarters he calls himself Hoshech (חושך)."Snape replied confusing everyone. What kind of name was Hoshech? "I don't know." Ryou almost mumbled sounding defeated. "Hmm… so we have one person with two names. Perhaps he is trying to confuse us?" Dumbledore suggested making them all think. "Severus, what else do you know about him?"

"Hoshech, keeps to himself and isn't always at meetings. He locks himself in his room doing who-knows-what and yet always has good information. He's also the one who suggested and led all three of the attacks in the last week." He reported shocking all of them. Voldemort letting someone outside of his circle lead an attack? Who was this guy? "Absurd. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would never hand over control of his forces to someone else." Mr. Weasley said voicing everyone's opinion.

Dumbledore, trying to put it in perspective, gave a thought that outraged almost everyone. "Arthur, it would appear that Voldemort listens to Hoshech, whoever he is." A deep silence followed the ridiculous statement that seemed the only explanation. But why would Voldemort listen to someone? Especially a non-wizard! No one was willing to think muggle of this stranger.

"Severus, does he get along with any of the Death Eaters?" Dumbledore asked separating them all from their thoughts. "He talks to Bellatrix for whatever reason but seems to despise the rest of us. Especially Malfoy." Harry couldn't decide if this guy had good taste or not for avoiding Malfoy but liking Bellatrix?

Harry was saved from thinking on that by his g-dfather speaking up. "But that doesn't answer the biggest question. Why, does he look just like Hoshek?" 'What? Who is he talking about?' was the general thought of everyone up there before at least most of them connect why Ryou was down there. "I don't know sir."

'My cousin looks like You-Know-Who's ally?' Hermione thought in a state of near shock. ."It would appear that their appearances are rather inexplicable at the moment, but there's another peculiarity. Why only attack muggle towns?" Dumbledore asked breaking Hermione from her thoughts. She couldn't start thinking about her cousin and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's new ally at the same time. Their appearances had to be a coincidence… but how common was white hair and Ryou's delicate features? Answer: almost 0%.

"Maybe it's a scare tactic?" Ryou suggested shortly before a series of loud thumps could be heard and they all retracted their extendable ears in fear of being found. Even without the extendable ears being only halfway up the kitchen stairway they could hear the door when it opened and a few more thumps. "There's no more help you can offer." Haru Bakura's voice was harsh and then the door was swiftly slammed shut.

After a few more seconds they heard Ryou starting up the stairs the steps sounding a bit uneven Hermione noticed. They quickly pulled up the extendable ears all the way; Ryou didn't need to know they'd been listening. They slowly made their way down to the landing above the first floor waiting for Ryou to get all the way up so they could ask him a few questions.

~Ryou~

Ryou's mood was dismal to say the least. In the last 2 hours he'd had Kura, lost him, been taken by some strange magical order, called a demon, had Kura again only to lose him, seen his dad who ended up being angry with him, and had to lie to an entire group of people who probably really needed his knowledge. And the day was just warming up as it wasn't quite lunch time yet. Ryou reached the top of the stairs and shuffled his feet awkwardly trying not to limp. His ankle was most likely sprained so he needed to bind it right away. Good thing he packed bandages in his suitcase.

He took extra care in front of the black curtain but nearly tripped when he stopped watching his feet. He put out his injured left foot to stop himself and had to hold back a scream as pain rushed up his foreleg. If it wasn't sprained before it most certainly was now. He felt worry then rage come from Bakura as the damage was assessed. Bakura knew a lot about injuries so maybe he could help; but Ryou had a feeling trickle through that it was bad enough that Bakura couldn't fix it.

Ryou gritted his teeth and tried to hop quietly to the stairs where he grabbed the railing. Clenching his eyes for a moment to imagine the pain going away he looked up the now daunting steps and spotted a group waiting for someone to come up. 'Time for another round of questions.' Ryou took a couple deep breaths and hoped that they hadn't seen him hopping like that so he could pretend he was alright. He also hoped they hadn't been listening in because that would make more awkward questions.

Ryou kept a firm hand on the railing with his left hand trying not to show that he was injured; it was never good to let people know when you were. Progress was a bit slower than normal but soon enough he made it to the top and Ron made him lose all hope in them not having listened and them having any tact. "What was that about?" a short question but his tone making it obvious that he wanted an explanation for what had happened, not a simple 'What happened?'.

Ryou bit his lip not wanting another round of questions but decided he wouldn't lie twice in one day and relented to answering all their queries. "Apparently I look just like Hoshech…" he tailed off not wanting to say more than he had to. "So what" started one twin, "was the deal" the other, "with the prof?" they both finished. Ryou was used to similar moments between Jou and Honda but wasn't sure who 'the prof' was. He gave them a questioning look that they eventually picked up on.

"Professor Bakura." started one, "Our brother Bill swears his career by him." the other, "Says he's the most brilliant curse breaker in the last fifty years." the first one again, "But we think he's never learned to relax." the second one again, "So, what was that." They both finished leaving Ryou feeling awkward. He hadn't even known his father was a curse breaker yet alone what that was. He hadn't even known his father was a wizard and now he was one of the best at his job in the last fifty years? Ryou got slightly depressed at how little he knew about his father but reminded himself that he had to answer the question and shifted his weight wary of his injured foot. "I wasn't being helpful..." he replied weakly not quite sure what to say.

"It looked like you did more than that if he was that mad." Ron said again with no tact earning a slap to the back of the head by Hermione. Ron muttered a soft 'What?' but his point had hit hard. 'He's right… he was so angry…' Ryou started voicing his thought out loud. "I was just making trouble for everyone, especially him. And the scene with the painting was inexcusable. And I just ran off making everyone worry when there's obviously other things that need to get done. And I was also here without him knowing so that's even more trouble I've made for them…" Ryou trailed off thinking of his trip to Egypt that he had apparently been spotted on, and the fact that his uncle didn't want him near his family and that's exactly where he was, and he also didn't want Ryou involved with this mess and he was only making it worse by not telling them what he knew about Bakura and helping them fight…

Ryou was pulled out of his thoughts by a redheaded girl (probably Ron's sister) asking another question. "But how could he treat you like that? Wouldn't he have already known you were there?" Ryou looked at her before looking away almost in shame. "I came here without him knowing. He doesn't want me around anyone..."

The last part of Ryou's comment was ignored as Hermione voiced her outrage. "But how could he hit you Ryou? You didn't do anything wrong in that situation." Ryou desperately wanted to start calling out all the reasons that it was his fault before Bakura got angry in his mind and was nearly yelling. /Ryou! Stop thinking that way! It was not alright for him to hit you / another surge of rage came down the link /and you didn't know he was going to look for you in Japan. / Ryou answered out loud trying to keep it nonspecific so he could answer both at once not sure who he was talking to more. "But it was my fault that they couldn't find me so I deserved it. It's my fault that man got hurt earlier to." He thought back to the man being brought through the door. He wouldn't have been hurt so badly if Ryou could've gotten to Bakura in the first place.

/Ryou, that's not your fault. It's the Order's for taking you. You tried your best. / Outside of his mind Hermione was asking another query. "How could it have been your fault that Lupin was hurt? You didn't know what was going on." Ryou shook his head. "No, if I had been a little faster it wouldn't have happened." He insisted to both the group and Bakura. If he had been faster he could've left the house before Hermione got a hold of him.

Realizing that this conversation was going nowhere Hermione changed topics. "How could you let him call you a monster?" she asked thinking it was a simple question but almost shutting Ryou down. 'Because I am one.' Was his first thought but he knew it wasn't true and he remembered what Bakura had said. Bakura thought he was an angel, there was no way he was a demon. So he went to the second answer that he had barely realized himself: "Because he's at least talking to me." And he realized how true it was.

"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked in what Ryou was quickly learning was his usual bluntness. "He's your dad right?" Ryou took a deep breath before answering it was a little hard to admit how his father had almost abandoned him… Bakura snorted. Apparently he didn't agree with the almost part of it. "I haven't actually spoken to him in almost three years; but it's fine." He rushed to sooth them seeing the shocked looks on their faces. "He's just really busy with his work."

"Ryou…" Hermione started gently not sure how to break it to her cousin, but all the signs were there. "that's abandonment. And hitting you was abuse." Ryou shook his head trying to ignore it. "He's just been really busy and I keep causing trouble for him."

/See? Even your cousin can see it after a few minutes. Ryou, you have to face it. / Bakura prodded gently trying to make him see the truth but not wanting to push to far after everything that had happened today. "Ryou, you didn't cause any trouble; it was that horrid painting. And even if he was busy he should've called you from time to time."

Ryou hung his head. /He's an ass Ryou; everyone can see it. / Ryou tried not to cry as he faced the inevitable answer to the question. Did his dad abandon him? He hesitated in his mind not ready to admit it; …Yes. He had he finally consented but couldn't agree with the abuse. It was his fault that his father hit him. He felt Bakura try to reign in more anger but… "Maybe it'll get better. He's talking to me now." And with that he shuffled up the stairs past them to find a quiet room to barricade himself in before he had a talk with Bakura. He needed his dark; the world was melting away the light.

Ok, I still have scenes to put in here (a lot of them) and I struggled a lot with how to write the first scene in the kitchen. Truthfully I'm not happy with any of this and I couldn't get the line I wanted to work. The whole part with the listening in is the worst thing I've written in any of my stories as far as I'm concerned and the chapter is short but I feel guilty for not getting this up a lot sooner. It's the right amount of words just, not as many pages.

The story is still going to be entirely minute for minute plays for at least the whole next chapter and I highly doubt I'm going to get to close to done even I the next one. This chapter is kinda a failure but I just can't bring myself to rewrite it.

I've been so overstressed with school and everything else that I've had four mental breakdowns since my last update and am going back to therapy; which I like. (My therapist is awesome.) School is finally settling down but things at home are pretty shaky so it's hard to get time to myself to write in peace. I might be getting my own comp soon so maybe I'll be able to write more but this month was real bad. Don't expect the next update until at least two weeks.

Really sorry. T^T

Also my nails are too long and it's hard to type but I don't want to cut them till Halloween…

Woot! I just cut six inches off my sister's hair. ^^ It looks great 'cause it was so long before. (It's still below her shoulders just above her breasts now. Yeah… her hair was long. Not as long as mine has been, but she looks better now. ^^


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews and someone mentioned Ryou's dad denying him magical education… that will be addressed but it's not what you all are thinking, ok? I am going to explain things from Haru's point of view. (That does not mean I'm defending him! He's going to get what's coming to him!) I think that you all should see why it's happening the way it is. It might come up this chappy or next… depends on how long the other scenes take.

Ok, I got inspired to write by a story on . HP and the Darkness's Light. I'm not trying to promote it, but I loved the end of the second chappy just because they're being so funny. ^^ It really cheers me up. And seriously, I need to know if you guys want Malik in here because I just want to write him right now. Have an idea to get him in here to.

Hermione watched her cousin as he shuffled up the stairs not hiding the limp he seemed to try and ignore before. 'How could he do that to Ryou? It's horrible!' her mind screamed at her and couldn't figure out how Ryou could say it was his fault. It just doesn't work. Ryou had done nothing wrong and he still forgave his father for doing that… there was just something _wrong_ in that picture.

Harry was faced with similar thoughts about this strange albino cousin of Hermoine's. His uncle had abused him, occasionally to the point of hitting but that was more of Dudley and he had been starved occasionally and Harry knew that was neglect. And he hated his 'family' for it every time he thought about it. But Ryou… his own father called him a demon and he didn't do anything. He hit him – twice! – and dragged him by his hair, nearly thrown him and accused him of killing people. Not to mention that they hadn't spoken in three years because his father was 'busy with his work'. That was pure neglect! How could Ryou say it was his fault? And especially how could Mr. Bakura do that?

Ryou, for all his slow pace and losing to his thoughts, was soon around a corner and out of sight no one knowing quite where he was going. "How could he say that? How could he say it's his fault?" Ginny asked quietly not understanding it. It was his own father saying those things and hitting him. She tried to picture her father when he was angry, usually when Fred and George had done a particularly nasty prank, but even then he only told them to knock it off and clean up their mess. Maybe give them extra chores or take away their brooms for a week. But Ryou had done nothing as far as she could see and his father hadn't even talked to him in three years! It just didn't make sense. He'd even called Ryou a murderer and he didn't deny it. Why? How could he accept that? Why did he take the blame for his father's horrible treatment? How could his father _do_ and _say_ those things?

Fred and George came up on either side of her and gave her a two sided hug trying to comfort their little sister while Hermione slowly turned around looking away from where her cousin had disappeared to sit on the stair and try to explain it to even herself. She rubbed her temple trying to work out the one question. How could he say it's his fault? "Ryou was always really self sacrificing even when we were really little and after his mother and sister died his dad blamed him for it because he was the only one to survive the car crash. I knew things were strained between them but I didn't know it was so bad… and he probably just wants to hold onto the little family he has left." She thought aloud making everyone think of the comment about them not speaking for three years.

It was silent for a few moments while everyone tried to see how it worked and it did; but to this extent? That he didn't mind if his father hit him just so they could talk? Harry crossed over to the banister and leaned against it carefully hoping it wouldn't break. "Hermione, you said you didn't know where your cousin was because your dad moved him during our first year, right?" Harry tried to fit the pieces of this strange family together. Hermione looked up towards him from her position on the stair below him and nodded her head slightly. "Yes, that's correct. I didn't know where he was until we picked him up from the airport." She confirmed but didn't say where so Ron asked in the usual fashion. "Well where was he?"

Hermione glared at him slightly for his lack of tact but ignored it in favor of her cousin. "He was in Japan." Which raised more questions in everyone's minds. Didn't his dad live in Egypt because of his work? Bill had talked all about how Haru Bakura was brilliant and a great mentor if not a little too focused on his work but some people were just workaholics like that. But, Ryou had lived in Japan. Why would he live in a different country from his father? Hermione frowned hard at the idea. Ryou had truly been abandoned but that was ridiculous. His father was on a different continent even!

"Japan, Hermione?" Harry asked obviously in disbelief and Hermione just nodded her head and sighed. "I know. My uncle is originally Japanese so it would make sense that he was there if his dad was there too. But Ryou didn't even speak Japanese back then!" Hermione shook her head in exasperation at her uncle's actions. It hit her then what that really meant. When Ryou was 13, a year after he got to Japan at the most, he was already living on his own. Or that was at least the last time his dad had bothered to call. Hermione hung her head slightly in shame. All this had happened to her cousin and she didn't know. And Ryou acted like it was his fault that had happened. Hermione made a decision in that moment that she would find out more about Ryou and what had happened. How had he survived? Did his friends there know about this? How did he get money for clothes, food, and school? What about his education? Kanji were supposed to be extremely difficult to read.

Was Uncle Haru that determined to keep Ryou away from everyone?

"Why would he send your cousin so far away, mate?" Ron asked so Hermione voiced her thoughts again. "You remember the incidents I told you about?" Ron and Harry nodded but one of the twins – she didn't bother trying to figure out which one was which – asked "What incidents?" Hermione rubbed her temple trying to ward off the headache that was coming. Was it even really her place to say? She ignored her conscious in favor of explaining it to the Weasleys. "When Ryou was about ten a whole bunch of incidents happened around him where his friends would be playing a game and then they would all be lying around the board as if they were dead." Ginny gasped at this point. "I only saw it once but if I had to compare it to something it would be a dementor's kiss.

"My uncle wanted Ryou out of the house more often after the first couple incidents and then there was the car accident. Ryou was the only survivor and my uncle was convinced that he had caused it. He blamed Ryou after that and I wasn't allowed to see him for a while." Hermione frowned at her memories. "After Ryou was finally allowed to have friends over after that it happened again, that was the time I found him. He looked terrified about what had happened but as soon as Uncle Haru got there he sent Ryou to his room and told me to go home."

~Flashback~

_Hermione skipped down the street happily. She hadn't been allowed to play with her cousin since the accident but she saw a whole group of Ryou's friends coming over earlier so after she ate her lunch she convinced her mom to let her go play too._

'_I can't wait to tell Ryou all about the new puzzle my parents got me.' She thought fondly of the new 1,500 piece puzzle her parents had let her pick out. She was always more fond of books but Ryou loved puzzles and games so it would be perfect to do together._

_She crossed up the driveway and went straight in through the garage she'd been here so often. She smiled brightly as she opened the door and snuck around the corner hoping to surprise her cousin by going 'Boo' but she was the one surprised. All of Ryou's friends were lying down like they were taking naps and he was in the corner staring terrified-ly at them. "Ryou?" she asked gently and their eyes met as he began to cry. He ducked his head and curled up into a tight ball._

_A bit scared at this point she reconsidered her thought of them being asleep and warily stepped towards them. When none of them tried to scare her she got even more worried and grabbed one of their shoulders. He fell over when she had barely touched him and she would never forget his eyes. The eyes were blank and his face was stretched in a silent scream. Hermione gasped and quickly put her hand over her mouth. Glancing at the others and deciding they probably wouldn't look much better she edged to the wall before scooting to her cousin._

_Finally reaching him she gently shook his shoulder. "Ryou, what happened?" she asked trying to be brave for him. Ryou was always the first to cry but also the kindest soul so Amane had always called him an angel. He looked up through tear stained lashes and then back towards them. "We were playing a game but then it was black. Then they were like this…" He stared frightened eyes up to her. "I'm sorry. I'm not evil! I didn't mean to kill them!" he exclaimed softly crying a little more._

'_Dead? They can't be…" Hermione looked towards them again. She couldn't see them breathing. "I'm sure their alive Ryou." She said not sounding as sure as she wanted and slowly scooted over to them again and took one of their wrists making sure not to look at any of their faces_

…_*thump* she felt a heartbeat and breathed a soft sigh of relief."Ryou, he's alive. His heart's beating." She quickly went back to him and took one of his hands in two of hers. "I didn't mean to do it Hermy. I don't know how it happened." He whispered to her and as she was about to reassure him Uncle Haru had walked downstairs from where his office was. "Uncle Haru! Something terrible happened!" she started trying to explain what was going on but she stopped herself from saying anything more when she saw her uncle's face. He was furious and glared at Ryou._

"_Ryou, go to your room." He said icily and Ryou almost flinched but none the less he stood up and scurried past his dad towards the stairs. Hermione opened her mouth to ask what had happened but her uncle stopped her. "Hermione, go home. Now." He added the last part after seeing her not leaving right away. She went back to the garage and took one last scared glance at the room where three boys laid lifeless around a game board and it felt cold. Colder than anything she could remember. Catching her uncle's gaze one last time she guiltily rushed through the garage and walked slowly back to her home glancing back towards her cousin's house…_

~Grimauld Place~

"After that I overheard my uncle speaking to my parents and discovered this was the third time and that they were going to move because Ryou was 'dangerous'. We kept in contact by phone after that until I got my letter to Hogwarts and they moved again right before I had to leave so I never got to call and tell him good-bye. But, during the first year, my mom and dad wrote me to tell me where Ryou had moved then because the incidents never stopped. They had been moving every third or fourth week it seemed until mid-October when my parents sent me a letter that my Uncle had taken Ryou somewhere and hadn't told them. I would've worried more but then there was the Halloween incident and I never heard about it again."

Hermione took a deep breath as she remembered the incident again. Ryou had been so scared… "Blimey that sounds bad." Ron exhaled and everyone there agreed. Hermione looked back to how her cousin was acting since he'd gotten here. When he first saw Lupin it was just like when she found him that day. But then Ryou had only looked up instead of flinching away so badly. But when his uncle hit him he didn't even flinch… 'Has Ryou been beaten before?' Hermione let the thought into her head unbidden and quickly turned away from it but she couldn't keep the image of Ryou's head snapping to the side because of his father's attack out of her head and yet he hadn't made a sound except to apologize… 'What happened?' Hermione wondered harder wishing she knew what was really going on with her cousin. And she would find out: whether he would tell her or not.

It was silent for a few solid minutes while everyone mulled over their own thoughts when Ginny finally brought them off the topic of Ryou albeit, not far. "What do you think happened? During the incidents? she asked softly careful not to disturb the atmosphere. All eyes were glued to Hermione as she took another deep breath. "The closest I can think is that their souls were taken but it's just impossible. There weren't any dementors; I'm sure of that." Harry frowned. "But there isn't another way to lose your soul. …is there?" he asked tentatively and Hermione rubbed her temple again. "Not really, no. I read up on it in first year and especially in third year but it seems that dementors are the only things that can take your soul nowadays. There were mentions of old branches of magic that were used in such a way and stories say that's where dementors come from but it also says that those branches of magic were either destroyed or died out thousands of years ago."

"Well what if your cousin has some of that magic?" Ron asked making Hermione want to either sigh or punch him. "Ron, that magic doesn't exist anymore. Plus, my cousin is a muggle."

"Well what if our magic only detects our magic?" Fred started on Ginny's right the two not hugging her anymore. "And that's why we don't know if Voldemort's new ally has magic or not." George completed the thought. The rest gathered considered the option for a moment but if that was the case… what kind of magic?

As they all contemplated what it could be Hermione stood up. "Where are you going?" Ron asked before he even thought it. "To the library." No one was surprised in the least until they heard her reasoning. "You-Know-Who's new ally looks like my cousin and it would appear both are connected to some form of dead magic. Besides… Ryou probably doesn't want to talk right now…" she looked after where Ryou had gone for a bit before going up the stairs and going the opposite way towards the library. It was just a few seconds later when Harry and Ginny turned up by her side and a moment later, Ron. They all heard a very loud pop and figured the twins had apparated there ahead of them.

~Ryou~

Ryou climbed back to the room he had hidden in earlier and took the room across the hall for it. If someone wanted to find him they'd go there first, not find him, and assume he had hidden somewhere far from there; at least a different floor.

He jammed the door with another chair and sat down against the far wall under a window trying not to think. His father had abandoned him… but, it just couldn't be! It just couldn't! Yet it was. Ryou brought his legs up to his chest and rested his forehead on his knees. "Bakura, why did he do it?"he asked aloud since no one else was there. And he needed someone to tell him. If the car crash was just an accident, and all the incidents were Bakura's fault, then why did he still blame Ryou? Wouldn't it be Bakura's fault?

Ryou felt a wave of guilt wash over him at the thought. He couldn't blame Bakura for this. 'It must be something else. I must've done something…'His thoughts were cut off as Bakura rebuked him in his mind. /Ryou, none of this is your fault. You can hardly help it that he's an asshole. /

"But why did he do it then?" Ryou asked softly and waited for Bakura to answer him. He knew what he would say but he needed someone to tell him anyway. /Because he needed to blame someone. / Ryou dropped his shoulders in defeat. Was he just… someone for his father to blame?

He heaved a sigh and put his head up to stare blankly at the wall in front of him before he felt a tug to his soul room. Not resisting, he soon found himself in Bakura's strong arms and buried his head in Bakura's chest. "It's not right! It's not right! It has to be at least partially my fault! My father can't be that bad! I have to have done something-" Ryou abruptly cut off his ranting feeling Bakura tense and getting the silent message. That wasn't the way it was. The fault wasn't Ryou's and for him that made it all the worse.

Ryou steadily cried some tears while Bakura cherished knowing Ryou was safe in his arms and away from his father. 'I won't forgive him for doing this to you…'he silently swore. Ryou was too soft and forgiving but, he supposed, that's why he needed Ryou and why Ryou needed him.

Ryou silently spilled more tears and Bakura held him close renewing his vow to harm anyone who hurt Ryou twice as bad. After a couple minutes Ryou calmed and just hung onto his yami. "Kura?" he finally asked softly almost enjoying the peace after the storm. He only received a small hum in reply. Ryou smiled softly at the expected reply before pushing on. "Do you think they'll hate me now?" he asked in reference to his cousin and her friends.

Bakura snorted unsurprised that his hikari would worry about something like that. "Koi, from how they were acting before they feel sorry for you." Ryou almost sighed. He wished they wouldn't. Bakura, sensing Ryou's discontentment with this and deciding he needed a distraction pulled away from Ryou and gave him a glinting smirk. Ryou narrowed his eyes warily; that smirk didn't always mean good things. "You know Ryou, you've been awfully lazy since we got to England…" Ryou narrowed his eyes further not liking where this was going. "…and you do have all those knives on you." Bakura finished expectantly.

Ryou full out frowned. "Bakura, I'm not having throwing practice in a house where I'm a guest." He protested even though he did see the good in it. The repetitive motion was calming and gave him room to think about other problems. And he did need to practice…

"The house is already falling to pieces; no one's going to think anything of a few nicks in the wall." Bakura replied even though he could sense his hikari's compliance. Ryou still made a show of sighing as he gave in. "Fine. But as soon as someone starts looking for me practice is over."

Ryou returned to the outside world and grabbed his pocket knife out of his back pocket. Rule of knife throwing: practice with different shapes and weights so any knife will be accurate when thrown. He stood up and held it lightly in his hand as if there was nothing there. He picked a spot along the right wall where there was an impression of a knot in the wood and in one fluid movement he popped the blade open and straightened his arm towards the wall. A dull thunk was heard a second later and Ryou glanced up. The knife was two centimiters to the left of the knot. 'Hmm… I really am getting out of practice…' he thought to himself as he retrieved the knife and faced the wall this time to throw it over his shoulder this time. He was best with flicking his arm but over the shoulder was always the best for practicing aim. Gripping the blade and pulling it back he swung again and another dull thud could be heard. This time the knife was half a centimeter inside the knot. 'Better, but still not center.' Ryou went to retrieve the knife again emptying his mind of thoughts and setting into the routine of practice. 'Bakura was right, I do need to practice.'

~Order meeting~

After Mr. Bakura had abruptly thrown his son out of the meeting he calmly returned to his seat. "I'm terribly sorry; my son doesn't know what he's talking about." Molly Weasley looked personally offended that Haru Bakura had just literally thrown his son out of the room but didn't get a chance to comment as Dumbledore pushed on presumably to sustain the peace.

"His idea does have merit, however. It could very well be that Voldemort" - several flinches went around the room - "wants to terrorize the muggles so when he takes power it will already be established who is stronger. It could also," he started as a few people had shocked and fearful looks on their faces at the prospect of Voldemort wanting to take over the muggle world as well. "it could also be that he wants to test his ally's power well keeping out of sight of the ministry."

The members of the Order relaxed a bit more into their seats at the perfectly plausible explanation of wanting to test someone's power instead of world domination. After a couple more minutes of quiet contemplation Moody spoke out drawing the attention of the whole room to him. "There's something wrong with the kid."

"Alastor?" Dumbledore asked for elaboration. Moody took a swig from the flask he always keeps by his side before finally talking. "My eye. I can't see him. It's like a fog of shadow but that's all there is." Many exclamations of surprise echoed around the table at this. Moody's magical eye was supposed to see through anything but to not see something? No one knew quite how Moody's 'Mad-Eye' worked but it was widely known he could use it to find anything, but; for something to simply not be there? And a person no less.

The mutterings grew in sound until Dumbledore again called for order. "Now, what do we actually know about Hoshech?" He searched along the table with his eyes before finally Dedalus Diggle spoke up. "He's skilled with a sword." Shrinking back a bit from all the attention directed at him he bravely pushed on. "I-I kept trying to hex him but he just deflected it with his sword. He'd have to be well trained to do that." Dumbledore nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"So Hoshech is trained with a sword, looks like Mr. Bakura's son and sometimes goes by the name of Yami or is at least versed in Japanese. And we still don't know why Voldemort" – many flinches went around the table – "is allied with him. Severus, I want you to take extra care to watch him and find out why he talks to Bellatrix." The potions master tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Now, Ms. Rosemerta, what news do you have from Hogsmade?"

I'm soo…. Sorry! T^T I got so stuck on the last scene so I just through a couple things down there and said good enough. ^^ I missed like twenty things I wanted in the last scene but I hate writing order meetings! Up to 5 people? Sure! I can write that! But a whole meeting? And several talks have to be had after this… Most notably (or at least coming next chapter) Molly Vs. Haru Bakura, and Bakura Vs. Snape. Or maybe the second one can wait… in the meantime, I got something out.


	6. Chapter 6

Omg! Omg! Omg! XXDDD Yay! It's only been an hour and all the wonderful reviews. *sniff* (Actually I'm giggling like a maniac. '^.^) So I'd still like to involve Malik and Marik (someone thought I'd only take one) but I need reader feedback! Like, seriously! (Oh shit, I sound like a 90's teenage princess. O.o) Anyways, while I'm on 90's… been reading a lot of Buffy fics lately. I especially liked Key to the Past (a HP crossover of course) so if you like that genre, go check it out. ^^

I also want to give a quick shout out to Munky. You're getting ahead of yourself and while I love that you're so excited about the story, you're jumping a lot of guns to conclusions that just aren't coming. I love the enthusiasm but I hate to crush your hopes more. '^.^ You're trying to put plots you've seen before into my story and they aren't forthcoming. I do try and keep all of this original and unique.

…umm… yeah… life… nothing going on… and since I've nothing better to do… I guess I could write… Just kidding! I'd love to write as soon as I get over my major writers block. I'll just start writing now. ^^

Hermione shuffled through the bookcase for the third time in the last hour picking out promising books and passing them on to the rest of them to look through. Picking out a book titled The Start of Magic: A Guide to Origins and Ancient Uses she heard Ron start complaining behind her. "Hermione! We're not finding anything here!" the complaint was accompanied by another loud thump as a book was heavily shut. "Honestly Ron; you've barely even looked." Hermione rebuffed grabbing another title: Dark Cultures of Ancient Times.

"Ron does have a point Hermione." Harry piped up and Hermione heard the gentler sound of a book being closed. "We don't even know what we're looking for." Hermione had to stop herself from sighing. "We're looking for mentions of ancient magic that could take souls." She repeated for about the fourth time and grabbed a different book deciding to go for a new approach. Dementors: What They Are, Where They Come From, and How They Came to be. Maybe the new angle would help.

Ginny came over to get the new Stack just as Hermione put the last book on top. "Dementors, Hermione?" She asked looking at the top title. Hermione rubbed her forehead and climbed down off the ladder. "We kept comparing it to dementors so maybe there's something in how they were made…" Hermione turned towards the group just as Ginny slid the stack of about ten new books onto the table and the twins respectively put their books aside in favor of new ones.

Ginny took the one on Dementors and sat down in a moth eaten armchair to the side to browse through. Deciding to look through the chapter titles (to determine what parts would be useful or not) she came across _Chapter 13: Supposed Origins_. Skipping to page 219 she started browsing through.

_It is said they were first born from the fears of mankind… often thought to be malevolent energy given form… theorized that they were once dark elves who fed off the negatives emotions of man… outlandish theory of having once been pixies that devoured human flesh…_ (Ginny quickly skipped past that one_.) In Egypt it is said that they were once spirits given form through dark magic…_

Ginny stopped reading for a moment. Dark Magic. She checked again: Egypt? 'Might as well.' She thought as she thoroughly read the next two paragraphs on it.

_In Egypt it is said that they were once spirits given form through dark magic. Between the years of 3500 bc and 3000 bc (No one truly knows the time frame as records from the time are scarce and often incomplete.) it is recorded that a dark form of magic was used throughout the kingdoms for war like purposes. Taking a person's Ka (the dark half of a person's soul according to Egyptian mythology) they transformed it into a monster and did battle with them. The process often killed the person having their Ka used for battle unless an extreme aptitude for the magic of the time was had so eventually they started removing Kas from criminals instead of having executions._

_The legend is that towards the end of the years of darkness (or 'shadows' as it is sometimes translated) a young man rose to power and used the process for his own means. The young man opposed the ruling family and took 99 malevolent spirits he considered had wrongly been killed by the crown and gave them physical form. Accordingly, the Ka is a representation of one's self while the Ba (the other half of the soul) is the spirit that keeps you alive and in this realm. Since these spirits were only the Ba half of the soul their form was unified and they did as the young man asked: cause chaos and disruption throughout the upper and lower kingdoms. The spirits were said to take the souls of other 'criminals' who had been wrongly killed and turn them into one of them. In Egypt, they are known as 'Baruch Sarachu' or 'Soul Stealers'. This is the oldest story of Dementors, however; there is no proof for or against this theory._

"Hey, guys," Ginny called the rest of the room's attention. "I think I found something." As everyone gathered around Ginny's seat Hermione read the paragraphs out loud over her shoulder. "Hey, that sounds pretty promising." Ron started barely after Hermione finished the last word earning himself a quick glare. "I'll admit it's the best we've got." Hermione conceded at length.

"Come on Hermione, it's got everything. Soul stealing magic, ancient magic, soul stealers… there has to be something more to this." Hermione sighed at Ron's pigheadedness even if in this case he did have a point. "Fine. Ginny, can you see if there's anything else on this in there?" She waited for Ginny's nod of consent before turning to the rest of them. "Ron, Harry, look through the books we already have out and see what you can find on Egypt. Fred, George, keep looking at other possible explanations. I don't want to narrow down the search too quickly. I'm going to go look for some books more specifically on Egypt." Without waiting for the boys consent she went back to the ladder, moved it down a couple feet to where the books were sorted by culture instead of all around coverage and started searching for anything there that might be on Egypt.

"When did she get put in charge?" Ron huffed as he went back to the table to pick up the book he'd just closed to look for something pertaining to Egypt. "Since she knows the most about researching things like this." Harry answered drawing his own book towards himself only to have Hermione appear at his shoulder. "Before I forget, write down everything you find on some parchment so we can sort through it later." Seeing Ron about to complain, Harry stood up. "I'll go get some ink and quills then." Hermione nodded her consent before turning back to the bookcase as Harry caught a glimpse of Ron's miffed face.

~Ryou~

Ryou had been practicing without keeping track of time so when he had consistently hit center enough times that there was a hole to see into the next room from he decided that was enough for the day. Only limping slightly as he retrieved his knife for the final time Ryou sat down to finally evaluate his ankle which had been ignored in favor of practice. His shoe being fairly easy to unlace and remove he put it aside. He felt Bakura peering through the back of his eyes as he rolled down his sock causing the miniature knife he had forgotten was there to clamor onto the floor. Gasping, and then gritting his teeth at the pain, Ryou gingerly removed the rest of his sock. It was swollen all around and bruised purple (still turning to black) on the inside where it'd been hit worst.

Gently running his cool fingers across and around the injury to asses where the worst of it was Ryou felt Bakura grow angry in the back of his mind. /That bastard. / he growled reviewing his plans for Haru Bakura's death. /I'm sure he didn't hurt me on purpose. / Ryou defended before flinching as his fingers discovered a particularly sore spot right above his foot. He heard Bakura's growl deepen. 'I should probably go wrap this up…' Ryou thought as he grabbed the small knife and tucked it into his front left pocket and his sock followed it the foot dangling out so his pocket wouldn't stink up.

Carefully standing on one foot with the wall for support Ryou stood before bending back down to get his discarded sneaker. Ryou tried to stifle the pain enough to not have a major limp as he moved the chair back into its former position and started off down the hallway. He could still feel Bakura simmering in the back of his mind but was thankful he kept his comments to himself. His father might have neglected his care a bit but it was Ryou's fault that he was now injured.

Feeling Bakura's rage spike at such thoughts Ryou abandoned them in favor of figuring out how to get down the stairs. Chucking his shoe into the shadow realm he used both hands along the spiraling railing to agonizingly move down the staircase one step at a time. 'This isn't the worst I've had.' Ryou kept reminding himself as he worked his way down finally reaching the door onto the second floor and pushing it open. The cool air of the house was acting like a cooling pack for Ryou's sore ankle but he knew he still needed to wrap it and elevate it.

Rounding the corner towards the next staircase he'd have to take (in midst of all the confusion his and Hermione's bags were still down in the foyer) he noticed Harry coming towards him from the opposite direction. Straightening out, Ryou pretended he wasn't injured at all and walked a bit slower than usual towards the staircase silently hoping Harry would ignore him and not question why he only had on one shoe.

Harry spotted Hermione's cousin rounding the corner just as he was about to enter the room and noticed him only wearing one shoe, the other foot being bare. After his preliminary surprise Harry remembered how Ryou'd been limping and took a closer look. In the dim light he couldn't tell if it was swollen but it certainly looked bruised. 'Maybe I should offer to help…' Harry wondered until he looked into Ryou's eyes. Eyes that wouldn't ask for help not out of defiance; but out of fear. It was those eyes that made Harry's decision for him and he was talking before he even knew what he was saying. "Hey, Ryou, umm… do you need some help?"

Ryou's eyes widened in fear before dropping to the floor in despair, 'Of course it was too obvious.' he thought dejectedly. 'If I only had the sock on maybe I could pass it off but not this. Stupid! Stupid!' Ryou berated himself. 'Can't do anything right. Making everyone worry and taking up their time. Just a waste.' Bakura felt the black curtain covering Ryou's mind again and decided to push it out of Ryou's focus. /Itoshi, he's already noticed so why don't you have him grab your bag? It'll only make your ankle worse if you force yourself to go down those stairs. /

Harry, taking Ryou's silence almost correctly wondered what he should do next. 'Shit, I hope I didn't insult him. Should I just pretend I didn't notice like he wanted me to or should I show him that it's alright to ask for help? But if I push he might feel really insulted…' In midst of his musings he didn't notice Ryou warily look up and to the side so he wouldn't meet Harry's eyes but he was brought back to reality when Ryou's shy voice stretched across the hall. "A-ano… could you bring up my bag?" Harry, a bit surprised that Ryou had asked on his own must have given a questioning or surprised expression (he was too shell-shocked to notice what expression was on his face) because Ryou blushed and looked down before continuing. "I have bandages in my bag…" he tailed off obviously not wanting to say more so Harry jumped to his task. "Yeah, no problem." He said before rushing off to get the bag.

In the back of his mind he remembered that Ron would probably get annoyed if he wasn't back soon with the parchment but pushed it aside in favor of helping Ryou out. Maybe talking about his own childhood would help? Reaching the bottom of the stairs he grabbed the one that looked like a standard suitcase instead of Hermione's trunk and carefully pulled it up the stairs so he wouldn't disturb Mrs. Black's portrait. 'Thinking of… Why was she so scared of Ryou? How could she recognize him when he's never been here before? Was he mistaken for Voldemort's new ally? But when would he have been here!' Harry followed his train of thought to a new line of questioning which started giving him a headache. 'I should probably figure out what this power is first.' He conceded before noticing Ryou had moved to sit at the top of the steps. 'Probably so he can get it wrapped up faster.' He thought and hurried up the second set of stairs.

Ryou meanwhile was lost in his own thoughts of self worth and how pitiful he was. He was making someone do something for him; that was bad. He asked for Harry (Someone he barely even knew and an important guy!) to go get his bags for him; that was wrong. He was to pathetic to finish getting his bag himself; that was worse. He let someone see that he was injured; that was stupid. 'Why can't I do anything right?' Ryou asked himself bringing his feet up another step closer to his chest and leaning his head forward. 'I'm so pathetic…'

Bakura was getting annoyed at how much they had hurt Ryou in just one day. It would take days to get him back to normal! Ryou however was saved from his thoughts by Harry this time when he plunked the suitcase a bit noisily next to Ryou causing him to jump. "So," he asked trying to sound casual, "where's the bandages?" As he asked as another thought struck him: who brings bandages – especially for this type of injury – on their vacation? 'Maybe he's accident prone?' he tried to explain it but thinking back Ryou had been pretty nimble when he ran up the stairs earlier. Something wasn't making sense here…

Ryou opened up the main component to reveal nicely packed clothes that wouldn't have happened if he left in a hurry with the picture frame carefully on top. Ryou mentally winced at how suspicious this would look. He ignored his instincts of preservation however for wrapping up his ankle. Unzipping another compartment on the bottom of the top he pulled out a plastic bag full of medical supplies careful not to disturb the knife that was hidden there. He had gauze, a small vile of rubbing alcohol, two ace bandages (one big and one small), bandages of all sizes, medical tape, cotton balls, and a pocket sized tube of Neosporin. It was a full fledged medical kit and if his bag being packed wasn't suspicious before, him being this well prepared for injury definitely was. Ryou blindly hoped Harry wouldn't notice even though he knew the impossibility of such and just prayed he wouldn't comment on it.

Harry hardly even noticed how well packed Ryou's suitcase was but he did notice two very suspicious things. 1) Ryou's suitcase had a secret pocket for medical supplies. 2) Ryou was very well stocked on medical supplies. 'Why have so many supplies? Was he going to be somewhere that he needed them?' and the very fact that they were in a concealed pocket. 'Why hide them? Did he have more secret compartments?' Harry eyed the suitcase. It looked absolutely normal but so had the top before Ryou revealed that pocket. It was then that he noticed the uniformly packed clothes. 'Maybe he was supposed to leave tomorrow? Hermione never said exactly how long he was staying.' Putting that aside as something to ask Hermione and something to mention he watched Ryou masterfully check that the band-aid was tight enough without cutting off circulation. He'd obviously done it many times before.

Maybe he could find something out about why Ryou was so well prepared; or at least why he was so practiced at doing this. "Get hurt a lot?" he asked not so subtly and almost hit himself for his stupidity. 'He's not gonna answer such a direct question!' he mentally yelled at himself and was quite surprised when he was proved wrong. "Not so much anymore." Ryou replied softly as he used the small metal clasps to keep the bandage in place.

"Anymore?" Harry asked. After all, that's the first question anyone would ask. Ryou nodded his head sagely as he started rolling his ankle around slightly; checking that it was supported correctly. "Malik taught me a bunch of ways to keep safe."

"Safe from what?" Harry asked trying to keep Ryou from leaving since he seemed satisfied with the bandage. Ryou shrugged as he zipped up the bag again. "Bullies." The word sounded stupid to Ryou as he said it but he had had enough of lying for the day. He could tell Harry was interrogating him but he ignored it. These answers would probably put his mind to rest anyway.

"You get picked on a lot?" Harry said with a just a bit too much of excitement at being near discovering something. Ryou held back a sigh as he tucked the bag back into the not-as-secret-as-it-once-was pocket and closed up his whole suitcase. 'Sighing blows happiness away.' he reminded himself and pushed on. He wasn't even sure why he was having this conversation other than to stifle Harry's curiosity but maybe that was good. Maybe he wouldn't be so suspicious after this.

"Not so much." Ryou finally replied after a pause leaving Harry to pick up the meaning behind it. And he did. Nodding his head in understanding Harry launched into some of his own life story; "I know what you mean. My cousin and his gang used to beat me up all the time. Whenever I go back there during the summer they like to play their favorite sport; Harry Hunting." Ryou nodded as well. Being hunted, he knew that feeling. He recalled one time when a particularly nasty boy in Kyoto had chased him into a back alley a couple blocks from school and pulled a knife on him… Ryou had been in bandages for the next two weeks from cuts across his stomach and along his arms but the boy might never wake again. He might be able to beg Bakura into it or do it himself behind Bakura's back but he wasn't sure he wanted to. But it was wrong to leave him in a coma…

Drawing himself back to present times Ryou decided to ask a question of his own and learn about this 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Ryou knew better than to listen to titles and gossip. "Were you any good at hiding?" Harry was taken about at the question but Ryou pushed on before he answered. "I was never very good at that." Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for him. It was always worse if they found him than if they just started beating on him so if Ryou wasn't a good hider…

Feeling Ryou's eyes on him he decided to answer. "Yeah, I was a good hider." Ryou nodded his head before bringing his sock out of his pocket and tucking it into his suitcase. No need to keep it in his pocket awkwardly the whole day. "Why' d you bring all that stuff with you?" Harry asked not able to keep it to himself even if it was a dumb question. "I tend to get hurt when I go anywhere." He answered simply thinking of his travels and a bit more specifically, Battle City. Although that might not count as travel…

Harry just gave him a 'huh' kind of face but shrugged it off. Suddenly an irregularly loud pop of aparation was heard down the hallway by Harry and Ron's room. 'Crap! I forgot I was supposed to be getting parchment!' Harry jumped up as Ryou whipped his head around. Harry vaguely wondered if Ryou had a headache from his neck being spun so quickly like that. "Harry mate?" The twins called poking their head into the room only to look at each other simultaneously before looking off down the hall and spotting him.

"There you are –"

" –Harry. Hermione sent us –"

" –to come get you."

Shaking his head a little to stop his brain rolling from the word bounce Harry started walking towards them. "Sorry. I got distracted. I'll be right back." Harry said while trying to keep Ryou out of view. Apparently it didn't work as the twins each looked behind him before sharing a look on their own.

"Ok then mate."

"We'll just be –"

" –going back then."

"But you might want to hurry –"

" –the girls are in a right huff about you being gone so long."

"Especially –"

" –Ron."

They grinned at each other widely before another perfectly timed aparation produced a louder pop than usual. "Well," he said turning back to Ryou not knowing quite how to get rid of him nicely. "I gotta get back. I was just supposed to get some parchment…" he trailed off fairly lamely backing up towards his room. Ryou fake smiled a bit too cheerfully to look right and said, "Then you should go. I need to go get my shoe. I left it upstairs."

Harry looked around Ryou for a moment before realizing he was right: Ryou didn't have his shoe with him. Looking again at his ankle and wondering if he should really walk up all those stairs again but he decided getting back was more important. But there was still something undeniably creepy about that fake cheer Ryou put on. Maybe he wanted Harry to stop him? To help him out again? "Yeah, you should go get that." Harry said before turning towards his and Ron's room but not leaving before he heard one last question. "What are you guys doing?" Against his wiser judgment Harry looked again and Ryou's eyes looked almost broken. But he ignored it. "Winter homework." He said before dashing to the desk in the corner, grabbing some parchment, three quills, and a couple bottles of ink before trying to casually walk by Ryou who was slightly limping back down the hallway, all focus on his feet.

~Ryou: A few minutes previously~

"I gotta get back. I was just supposed to get some parchment…" Harry said before Bakura piped up in the back of his mind. /He's hiding something. / Ryou mentally nodded, /I know. / Putting on a smile he knew looked painfully fake he purposefully made Harry feel guilty so less suspicion would fall on him. After all, to Harry he was just 'the picked on kid who needed a friend'. "Then you should go. I need to go get my shoe. I left it upstairs." He held the smile for a bit longer as Harry looked around him for the missing shoe. Harry seemed to deliberate guiltily with himself for a moment before saying, "Yeah, you should go get that." Before immediately turning away from Ryou and going to his room.

Deciding to milk this with one more question he asked, "What are you guys doing?" he made his eyes a bit more sad and his smile a bit more fake but frayed around the edges. When Harry looked back Ryou saw him almost break and after a biting "Winter homework." Ryou heard him rush into his room and push things around so he grudgingly stood up careful to hold the banister for support. He felt Bakura reevaluate how it had been wrapped since it changes when you stand up and after a mental nod of approval he set of down the hall looking at his feet to make sure there wasn't anything to dirty there so he wouldn't ruin his bandage. After watching Harry try to go by him at a reasonable speed he looked a bit further down the hall and satisfied there was nothing too dirty, all the way ahead.

/What's the plan? / Ryou asked. He knew his yami would already have a plan so they could find out exactly what his cousin and her friends were looking into. Bakura smirked, /Practice. / Ryou nodded his head as he started up the spiral stairs towards the top floors. /I thought that might be it. /

~2 minutes later: End of Order meeting~

Molly Weasley didn't consider herself a busy-body. She liked to make sure her family was well cared for and was very much a mom first and anything else came after that. She'd always listened to her parents when she was younger and remembered to always be polite. Her door was always open to a weary traveler – well, less nowadays with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rising to power again – and thought everyone could use a good meal at the end of a hard day. She liked to run a clean, fair house and that's how she liked most of the world – fair. But she knew it wasn't so she looked the other way. She ignored most of what Arthur brought home from work even if he didn't approve, she ignored half the fights her children got into, she ignored Lucius Malfoy throwing about his wealth like it was a bother but there was one thing she'd never ignore: A child in need.

Harry had been exactly that whenever she saw him. His relatives barely feeding him, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named always after him, his parents gone… so she took him in. Saw him as one of his own. And although she firmly disliked his relatives for how they treated him it was nothing compared to what she now felt for Haru Bakura. Her second eldest son Bill said he was brilliant at his job; wanted nothing more than to shape his career after him. But Bill would have nothing more to do with that- that- horrid man after how he had acted. No matter how renowned his work was or how good, not if she had any say in the least and her son had any common sense about what kind of people to avoid (and Molly prided herself on her kids being good people with good judgment).

"Mr. Bakura," she called conversationally so she could have a word about his actions. "would you come over here please?" Haru Bakura had been about to leave but decided against it. He had wanted to talk to her about her son. "Yes Molly?" he asked as he came over to the back where she was getting pots for dinner going since it was getting on towards 5 at this point. Keeping her back to him she reminded herself to be polite like her parents always told her and tried to start on something light. "What do you think of Bill?" she inquired trying to get a better feel for the man in front of her. She always considered herself a good judge of character but to judge, you must first get to know.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about him." He started in a deep voice that Molly thought sounded a bit proud. "He's a fine young man, a fast learner. At the top of his group, I hear." Molly listened closely and picked up on the faintest accent covered by years of speaking another language. "Thank you. I gave all my boys my best." Molly set a knife to cutting up some chicken. She'd make a nice gumbo for dinner: hearty, but easy on the stomach. Mr. Bakura's son did look rather skinny; was he getting enough food?

"Yes, I suppose you did." Haru's voice sounded a bit clipped on the response. "Oh, you know what it's like raising boys. Well, a boy. Always getting themselves into trouble." She felt the man behind her stiffen as she waved the chicken into a skillet to cook and set to cutting up some celery and carrots. Off to the side she started the potatoes peeling themselves as they would be cut up next. "Not really." Haru finally responded. "He was always a rather quiet child."

Noting the disdain Mr. Bakura seemed to hold for his own son she decided to ask about her own son again in case they never spoke again which she certainly didn't intend to. "Well what about Bill? Do you think he has a promising career ahead of him?" Molly started pulling out ingredients for brother and tossing them right into the pan before she remembered to stir the chicken. 'Wouldn't want anything burnt in the dinner, now would we?' she thought to herself as she listened to Mr. Bakura behind her. "A very promising career except for some of his outlandish ways. He insists on having that ear pierced and has been dallying around with this French girl recently. I don't think he takes his work very seriously."

Molly started getting a bit mad. She didn't like that her son had pierced that ear of his even though she would privately admit that it did look 'cool' as her kids would say and he was an adult but it was good to hear he was interested in a girl. The way he said it as if it was a problem that he had a personal life was getting to her. "A French girl? I never would have guessed." Deciding it was time to find out more about him now that she knew what he thought of her son she turned the tables. "What about your son? He's about that age to start getting a girlfriend."

"I certainly hope not. He'd only ruin her life." He said with passion and Molly turned around deciding she had had more than enough of his bad mouthing the poor boy. "Now you listen here," she started the potatoes cutting themselves into approximately 5cm cubes behind her, "he's your son and you talk about him like he's some sort of plague. Upstairs" she pointed for emphasis. "the only words I heard come out of his mouth was that he was sorry for something that wasn't even his fault."

"Yes it was. It's always that Demon's faul – " Molly cut him off before he could finish that horrid sentence. "It most certainly is not! The portrait is a menace and if Mrs. Black has decided to go up the wall, I'm not surprised. But you! You're son must have been terrified after being yelled at and accused that way and you just hit him! The poor dear must have been scared out of his mind and you just call him a Demon again!" Haru Bakura was looking close to enraged at this point but still managing a bit of civility ground out; "He is a Demon and a menace to all of us. It is none of your business if I treat him accordingly."

"Accordingly! He's just a child and from what I've seen a very polite one at that. Where do you even get the idea that he's a demon? Or that he's a murderer! And where do you have any right to say the world is better off with him dead? He's just a child! You should be talking to him about test scores instead of –" the sentence was never finished as Haru Bakura let his fist fly and hit Molly Weasley square across the jaw. Stumbling back and to her right she held her left cheek as she coughed, her sleeve coming away red. "You have no right to talk to me that way with your own incompetent children. You don't' even know what that monstrosity has done and you think you have a right to tell me off?" Heavy footsteps drew closer to Molly as she could only stare at her sleeve in horror. Suddenly she was yanked up by her hair and she gave a sharp cry before she was looking into cold, angry eyes. "I would _suggest_ you stay out of my business."

Molly only started in slight horror at the man. Molly had two brothers growing up so she used to mock fight with them and sometimes come back with bruises but she had never been hit this hard or this suddenly. Another thought occurred to her when her hair had been pulled: it hurt. She couldn't help but scream out yet the boy hadn't made a sound. Had his son felt this before? Being used to it was the only reason Molly could think of that would stop someone from at least making some sound at the sudden pain. The next thing she knew after staring into hate filled eyes was being thrown into the floor and unconsciously catching herself before her face hit the floor. With her hair in front of her face Molly listened to heavy footsteps fall away and when they were gone up the stairs she only had one thought: 'That poor boy.'

Umm… don't' kill me? Ok, that last scene was only supposed to be talking but Haru had a mind of his own! He said Violence was needed! I also hope I did a good Molly. I can see her being proud of all her kids even if she doesn't always approve and worries for them endlessly. I also see her as a very nice person who learned her lessons about being polite well and follows through on them.

…I'll have to write more of her later. Damn, that wasn't in the plan. Whatever, in the end my plan is very Point A to Point B and anyway to get there.

I actually had to remind myself to even put that last scene in there but the story will get moving more next time. …I think. Also, what do you guys think of my theory on dementors? They'll be plenty more of that next time *wink* and Harry gossips about Ryou… Ok, that sounded wrong.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR! XXDDD XD XXPPP \^.^/ (This is posted on the first.)

Last thing, hold up an ax in your review if you want Haru to die. ^^ *Picks up the Slayer ax*


	7. Chapter 7  Discontinued

Very first, I have to apologize. It's been nearly a year since my last update and no, I don't have a long series of excuses beyond life. I gotta live it and this just isn't as important. I really love this story but I'm not sure how much I want to sit down at write it out. OK? I PLAN to finish… but plans aren't everything.

I want to write! …I've also realized that I'm not earning my M rating very well… even though I want to… but I guess it's just not the right section… *continues thinking for a long time* …sorry, drifted off for a moment there. Dude, I thought more angry reviews would come than I got but really, I had Haru Bakura PUNCH Molly Weasley. You think I'd get a few more angry comments. And a few more axes…

P.S. I noticed that I've started the last two chapters with the word (uh, name…) Hermione so this time it starts differently! It starts about Hermione! (Well honestly I don't know yet since I haven't started writing. Huh, that does not instill confidence in my story, does it?)

Settling into the room he'd had target practice in Ryou again put the chair against the door and sat down cross-legged in the center of the room. "How do I do this?" Ryou asked aloud secure in his solitude. /You're going to go to the shadows instead of calling them to you. / screwing up his eyebrows slightly Ryou waited for his yami to continue. / Normally, you'd call the shadows to protect you or fight for your or whatever but to do this _you_ need to go to the shadows. It takes a lot of your concentration and very little to bring you out of it so stay focused. /

The hikari dutifully nodded and closed his eyes. He stretched his magic out to the shadows and felt them reach out to fulfill his commands but he pushed the feeling out of his mind; this wasn't the time to use his power over them, but with them. Leaving the feeling of his body, Ryou thought of it as making his own shadow body which he had practiced a couple of times. Working actively with the shadows and not having a pulse or a need to breathe; something that Ryou found very disconcerting the first time he had made a false body.

Joining with the shadows, the young shadow user reminded himself not to make the shadows take his form; but to take the form of the shadows. Submerging himself all the way into them Ryou focused on the room he was in and saw his body with his head slumping forward. He could still smell the dusty air but that was as close as it got to the same. The course floor boards were more prominent since as a shadow he was attached to them instead of against them. Currently he was attached to the corner of the room so deciding to practice moving around Ryou willed himself over the chair. He felt like he was half being dragged and half slithering until he was under it. He noted that he looked like he had fallen asleep while meditating absently but it still caused him to lose his concentration.

At the sudden feel of having a pulse again Ryou looked around the room startled, his heart beating rapidly until he figured out exactly what had happened. /Good Ryou but you need to forget about your body. That's the easiest way to be brought back to it. / Mentally smiling at how Bakura sounded like a teacher again Ryou sent a feeling of agreement through the link and closed his eyes to try again. It was easier to get into the shadows this time but he still had to remind himself to become a part of them instead of the other way around.

Ignoring his body Ryou reached towards the edge or the shadows and felt a bit of a sting as the area gained light. /The higher the contrast between shadows and otherwise the more it'll be like a barrier. The room is so dim so it's not all that noticeable. / Accepting Bakura's proffered advice gratefully he sent a slight prompting of what to do next and the spirit obliged. /Go through the wall. Since this is your first time you're going to move slowly and not jump shadows yet. /

A bit startled by the thought of going through the wall Ryou quickly reminded himself that he was shadow right now and shadow didn't have a form. Any where the light dared not shine was his territory, his element. Willing himself to move again Ryou felt that same slithering/dragging movement as before and then he was in the wall. Inside the wall Ryou felt more solid. The bars for running water were nonexistent to him and he filled up every crevice. Reaching forward Ryou eventually felt the sense of movement he was slowly coming to be familiar with until a new thought worked its way into his mind: What was holding him up? In the room he was against the walls and floor but her he was just submerged in shadow; hanging in the air. Stuffing down the sudden panic that threatened to force him back into his body Ryou mentally took some deep breaths. He was part of the shadows here, shadows didn't obey gravity so neither did he as of the moment.

Ignoring the new realization that shadows didn't follow gravity Ryou focused on moving down to the second floor. Upon reaching the level he wanted (or at least where the shadows stopped pulling to help him move) he realized he didn't quite know where his cousin and her friends were. /Kura… / he asked lightly still trying to adjust to no gravity. /Reach out with your senses, hearing's probably going to be easiest, and try to identify your cousin or one of the other mortals. / Ignoring the last part Ryou tried to do as his yami instructed, He stopped focusing on sight and touch (the senses he was using most at the moment) and stretched his hearing for his cousin's voice. Finding it, he willed his way into the room they were in and ended up submerged on the side of what appeared to be a bookcase.

~Library~

Sorting through thoughts of what was most suspicious versus what would be easiest to address Harry dumped everything onto the middle of the table only putting it in some semblance of order afterwards. "About time, mate! I found this five minutes ago and have been waiting for you to get back so I can write it down already!" Ron practically shouted while ignoring the disapproving look from Hermione. "Honestly Ron," Ginny said from around Harry's elbow making him notice that she'd taken his seat. "you've just been holding that page open and whining."

"It's a heavy book!" Ron complained as he pulled a sheet of parchment over to him. He used his elbow to keep his place as he pulled the stopper out of an ink well and quickly wrote down in a messy scrawl, _used magic for executions_. "There." He said sounding proud and dropped the book shut. Ginny promptly rolled her eyes and pulled the parchment towards herself writing down _According to the Egyptian theory, the dementor's kiss takes the soul to the 'realm of darkness'_ in a more elegant scrawl causing Ron to frown. Turning to Harry as Ginny wrote down some things from the first two paragraphs they read he asked, "What took you so long?" with all the bluntness he could muster.

"I ran into Ryou." Harry answered absently still trying to decide what to ask first and now wondering why Fred and George hadn't already told them he was talking to Ryou. "Was he ok?" Hermione asked warily as she approached. Harry frowned as he thought about it. Ryou really hadn't seemed ok but did he want to tell Hermione that? "His ankle was pretty bad. I helped him wrap it up." Harry finally allotted not mentioning the inner turmoil he'd seen right before he'd left.

Hermione frowned deeply at this but Harry decided to broach another related subject. "Hermione, was Ryou supposed to leave tomorrow?" he asked and Hermione just looked at him questioningly. "No, he was supposed to stay through new years. I believe he was going to leave on the third." This answer caused Harry to frown. "His bag was all packed." He explained starting to tell what he'd seen. "When he opened it up to get a bandage, everything was packed like he was ready to leave."

Hermione frowned at this. He wasn't supposed to be leaving for more than a week so why was he ready to go? The thought crossed her mind of him knowing about the attack but of course he couldn't! Then again when the first explosion had gone off he hadn't seemed worried except that Hermione was running back towards the fight. But Ryou couldn't know! She remembered how surprised Ryou looked when she told him they were leaving and how scared he'd been when he saw Lupin was hurt. There was no way he had been prepared for the attack but had he known it was coming? But then how would he know! He definitely wasn't in contact with his father and the Order didn't know until after the attack started so _if_ Ryou knew the only way he could've know before was if he was psychic or he was in contact with You-Know-Who's army. And the most likely person from there was the mysterious new ally who looked like Ryou. "That doesn't make sense." Hermione finally said a firm tone of disbelief lacing her voice.

Harry simply nodded his head and continued. "He also had a lot of medical supplies, like he expected to get hurt." Everyone thought hard at this one. Why would he expect to get hurt? Who would hurt him? The image of his father appeared to everyone but he wasn't planning to run into his father. Running into more and more questions the more they learned about him the more interested they became. What was going on with Ryou Bakura?

Hermione eventually shook his head at the thought. "I don't know why he would expect to get hurt… we were just at my house the whole time. There were no trips planned or anything." she added before she was asked. Ron closed his mouth and frowned. Seeing as this subject was also going nowhere Harry brought up another suspicious thing; probably the biggest yet. "Hermione…" he started not sure how to bring this up and eventually just blurting it out in Ron fashion. "His bag has hidden compartments."

"Hidden compartments?" Hermione and the Weasleys voiced as one. Hermione in disbelief, Fred and George with interest and most likely mischief on their minds – or do they just share one? – and Ginny and Ron in surprise. "Wicked." Ron voiced as it must've finally hit him what was said.

"Why on Earth would he have hidden compartments?" Hermione left the spot where she'd been standing by the bookcase. "Well, maybe not compartments, but the medical supplies were hidden and if I hadn't seen him pull them out I never would've guessed he had any." Hermione placed on hand on her chin and the other hand supporting her elbow in a classic thinking pose. 'One hidden compartment for sure, which most likely leads to more. But why have any in the first place? What would he have hidden in them? What about the medical supplies? Why hide those? Why _have_ those? Could he have anything dangerous in his bag? No, Ryou wasn't a dangerous person. But what if they weren't for him?' the witch's mind circled back to why Ryou was packed up and this strange new ally. The evidence was saying there was a connection but she couldn't believe that. There had to be an alternate explanation.

"Hidden compartments, you say? Why, Fred. I've thought of this simply glorious idea."

"What is it George oh, brother of mine?"

"Wouldn't that be the perfect way to sneak certain objects around mother dearest?"

"Why George, I think that's an excellent idea."

They goofily shook hands like it was some sort of business deal while Hermione heaved a sigh and moved towards the table. "What'cha doing Hermione?" Ron intoned as she pulled a scrap of parchment towards herself. "I'm writing a list of things that are suspicious about Ryou." Harry nodded his head in understanding; there were just too many things to ignore. The list read:

_Ryou_

_Already packed_

_Prepared for injury_

_Secret compartments_

_Are there more?_

_Looks like You-Know-Who's new ally_

_Not surprised when attack started_

_Only worried when I ran towards attack_

_Mrs. Black was scared of him_

Hermione finished her list before sighing again. Ryou was already having such a tough time but they still had to suspect him. It went against every fiber of her being to ignore something that could be looked into. When Harry stepped forward and grabbed the quill form her she furrowed her eyebrows while stepping to the side. She'd gotten everything, hadn't she?

_Both Mr. Bakura and Mrs. Black called him a demon and a murderer_

_Mrs. Black talked about 'soul stealing'_

_Incidents_

The three points were short but also the most important. Those were the real things they had to find out. The reasons they couldn't trust him. Why they were doing this research. After a few moments of staring at the page Hermione barely resisted stamping her foot. "I can't stand this. Ryou's hurt, my uncle is horrible, and we have to suspect him of… well, being evil! I haven't even seen him in five years and we never had a good time to _really_ catch up. He hasn't even visited his mother and sister's graves yet! This is just…" she couldn't seem to find the words so Harry put an arm over her shoulder as she slumped in dismay. "It'll be ok." Harry eventually said a bit awkwardly not used to comforting anyone.

Hermione took it in stride and nodded her head once before wiping away a tear before it could fall. "I'm sure we can find out something. I'm sure there has to be… something." Hermione tried to convince herself before moving back to the shelves and pulling out books at a slower pace than before. Harry walked over behind her unsure of what to say. "Hey, umm…"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that." Hermione startled him.

"What? No, it's fine. It's a lot." He tried to placate her as she pulled out A Smarter Guide to Older Times: The Ancient Uses No One Else Tells. Deciding to bite the metaphorical bullet Harry started searching the shelves with his eyes not really taking anything in. "When Ryou was wrapping his ankle… he seemed very… experienced. With wrapping it. So I asked him, and… umm…" Harry knew he sounded stupid even to himself so he decided to just wrap it up as his eyes roved over a section on myths. "You know how my cousin likes to beat me up? Well, it seems people like to do that to Ryou, too. I'm sorry." He put his hand on her shoulder as she tensed up a bit. "He's had it pretty bad and for a pretty long time it seems."

Seeing that Hermione wasn't about to respond Harry looked back to the shelf he'd been looking at and grabbed a random title: Legends in the Dark. Putting it on what he assumed was Hermione's stack he turned back towards the table where Ron was scribbling yet again on the list for Egypt. "Just, sorry." Harry didn't look back as he went back to the table and grabbed a random book, The Untold Pages of History, and flipped straight to the index.

~Ryou~

"I'm writing a list of things that are suspicious about Ryou." The Hikari heard his cousin intone and that was almost enough to knock him back into his body but with a bit of will from Bakura he stayed put. Ryou watched as Hermione bent over a table and wrote down a few things before Harry pushed her aside to add more. Ryou pushed aside all the rising panic and thoughts of what could be written there in favor of finding more. He'd panic in a minute.

He watched his cousin's obvious frustration in her movements before she had as big of an outburst as she ever did. "I can't stand this. Ryou's hurt, my uncle is horrible, and we have to suspect him of… well, being evil! I haven't even seen him in five years and we never had a good time to _really_ catch up. He hasn't even visited his mother and sister's graves yet! This is just…" if she ever added more, Ryou missed it. He was thrown back into his body at the mention of their graves.

He stared at the door with in shaken grief. He had gone to visit their graves. In the night with Bakura shortly after he first arrived in England. They were gone.

The graveyard they had been buried at needed a fee paid to take care of the graves and apparently, two years ago, his father had stopped paying the fees. The choices at that point were to have them dug up and cremated, or to care for the graves yourself. He had had them cremated and Ryou had to pick up the ashes on his own from the 'unclaimed' shelf in the back. He and Bakura had taken them to Egypt where, along with Malik and his family, he'd said a quiet, last, private good-bye.

Ryou felt a tug to his soul room from his dark, his strength, and obeyed. In Egyptian culture disturbing ones burial was an offence worthy of death. His father worked in Egypt, he knew this! But he still hadn't cared enough for that. Ryou felt Bakura's arms wrap tightly around him.

Yes, things were ok. Ryou had his strength. Ryou had said good-bye. But this desecration still burned in his heart. It was yet another way in which Ryou understood Bakura's hatred even though Ryou couldn't hate. He'd already forgiven his father for that even if it still hurt. 'It was just too far away for him to visit on a regular basis so there was no one reason to pay for the up keep. And he was probably just too busy to pick up the ashes.'

Bakura tightened his hold on Ryou and growled under his breath. 'How dare he continue to blame Ryou for their deaths when he didn't even respect them enough to have someone _else_ care for their graves.' Ryou felt the growl more than he could hear it but he went immediately to placate his yami. "Oh don't be mad. We did the best we could to say good-bye."

Bakura tugged Ryou closer and buried his head in his hikari's soft locks. Their burial should've been honored in the first place and now Ryou didn't even have a place to say good-bye. The house they used to live in was sold, the spot of the crash was no place to give them peace, and now there was no resting place to dignify their passing. What a disgraceful act and Ryou wouldn't hold it against his father. Bakura tightened his hold. 'Just like he won't hold anything against his father.'

Feeling the tenseness of his other half Ryou leaned back before kissing him. "It's ok Bakura. I can go visit that spot again." Bakura just frowned at this forgiveness. But this matter had been dealt with no matter how high the insult to the deceased. Now, the matter of those suspicions…

"I should go back down and get a look at the list." Ryou voiced the most obvious plan of action and Bakura mentally agreed. Getting a look at the list would give them knowledge they needed to be ahead. What angles Ryou should play up to avert suspicion. What would be easiest to explain away. Anything he just needed to avoid.

In silent agreement Ryou left back to his body and went through the much easier, but still arduous, process of descending the stairs. Remembering his cover Ryou quickly retrieved his shoe from the shadow realm and proceeded to leave both next to his suitcase finding it much easier to move on flat ground without being unsteady due to the added height from his sneaker.

Ryou was about to enter the Library when he heard a call from halfway down the stairs. "Oh, Ryou dear, would you go get the other kids? Dinner's on the table." The red-headed woman smiled jovially at him so he just nodded a bit dumbly in surprise. "S-sure. I'll get them right now."

"Thank you, deary." She smiled again and Ryou nodded once before continuing his way to the library, his mind stuck on the kind woman. Why was there a bruise covering her left cheek? Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Ryou entered the library only to have everything stop and tense. /Caught in the act. / Bakura smirked.

/Shush. / Ryou huffed while blushing from the focus of attention on himself. "Ano… I was just coming to tell you that dinner is ready." He stared at his feet. 'Stupid! I didn't even ask about the list.' He mentally berated himself but silenced his thoughts at a growl from Bakura.

"Food!" Ron nearly moaned before slamming the book in front of him shut. Ignoring the disapproving look from Hermione he grabbed Harry's arm and rushed out the door. Ryou nearly smiled as he was reminded of how Jounochi reacted to food but refrained as he had to move to the side of the doorway to avoid being trampled. He saw Hermione scoff and gently put the book she had been holding onto the table before moving a piece of parchment underneath it.

The list. Neither hikari nor yami thought it out loud -

I'm sorry everyone. I've been working on this chapter near fruitlessly for about a year now and I just can't do it. This story has strayed too far from what it was supposed to be and I just can't keep going like this. I'm winging it, and it's just not sitting well with me at all. I started with a full plan and events that made sense. I feel like everything I wrote here is just Plot Convenience! instead of the subtle story I originally had mapped out. I have already gone back and fixed the first chapter up to my satisfaction but it could take quite a while before I'm ready to start posting the story as it should be.

On a related note:

1. Should I take this copy down?

I am going to save these files on my computer because I did put so much work into them, but I'm not satisfied nor do I want to keep them; but, as I am satisfied when I look at the writing from time to time, and I do feel a certain amount of pride with how far I came with this, I want to keep it out there even if it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. It's like a page of history.

2. Should I rename it when I repost it?

I absolutely **REFUSE** to just add Redone or Remix or any other degenerative slang for 'My other one was crap so read a slightly better version here!' I know that that statement could offend some people, but that's exactly what I feel like I'd be saying if I put that down. That's not how I feel about my rewrite. I feel like I messed up on this one so bad, and that one is what this story was _meant_ to be. I messed up my own artistic vision and I'm not just fixing up a few typos, I'm taking this story to a different path.

So, really, should I rename, and any suggestions? *Note: I am highly unlikely to use any suggestions, but I feel like I always give crap titles and names and would really like to hear what you guys think this story should be called.

3. I want to have several chapters written out before I actually start posting.

It's really meant to be a slow moving story which tries my patience constantly when I'm writing it because I just wanna write the big things but the pace of this story is soo important! It has to flow a certain way that I've failed in this version to be what I really want it to be so it could be a long time coming for the rewrite.

4. I really am happy with my writing, characterizations, and action in this story so some of the scenes from this will be going directly into the rewrite.

Hell, I change about 5 paragraphs after the lemon in the first chapter and that's all the changes I made to chapter one! (These changes are major though and run the conversation in an entirely different direction and make how he gets to headquarters soo… different and it is so important! It may be small, relatively, but the impact on the rest of the story is huge!)

5. *bows * I am so sorry for all the reviews I promised to keep writing this for but I feel like this story should be so much more than the flat, pot of contrivances it's become! I really wanted to keep writing it, but I just can't. I'm sorry for all the promised updates that you waited months for only to receive this, and I'm so sorry that I couldn't deliver what I meant to.

I hope you all forgive me for pulling back on this and one day I hope I'm able to share with you the story I dreamed up because I really believe it is a gem that I can polish into a master piece. Please wait for me and offer me your support. Gomenasai! *bows*

6. This story is **NOT** up for **adoption**! **EVER**! It never will be, and if I catch anyone asking for it, I will skin them with their own teeth! Don't you fucking dare try or get any ideas!

7. I'm probably being very greedy here, but could I ask someone out there to draw a cover art for this story? '^/^ Since we're allowed to put pictures with our stories now and I'm a horrible artist, I'd be honored if someone would draw something for this story.


	8. Dear StaidWaters

Dear StaidWaters:

How dare you have the audacity to turn off your pm feature after giving me such a scathing (I'm not mad – I rather liked it) and questioning review? I mean, really! Now I have to post another chapter just to reply!

However, she (I'm assuming here) brought up a good point.

Why am I against this fic being adopted?

There are several reasons for this. First is the writing style. I hate reading a fic and then getting halfway through only to find the whole tone of the writing suddenly change and the story's going in a different direction and the pacing has switched and the chacterizations aren't quite the same and …

Well, you see my point there.

Second is that I have issues. I've nearly failed in school because I have such high perfectionist demands of myself. If I don't think I can do perfect, I _Will. Not. Do. It_. That's gotten me lots of zeros. I do not give up the things I start. Will it be a long time before this story is back? Probably. I've actually re-re-read the first chapter and now plan to rewrite everything from scratch.

Third: As much as I can see where StaidWaters got the idea that I was writing a character development fic about Ryou, that's not where this was going. I'd tell you if you asked in a review, but I think that may ruin what I want you all to see at the end of the fic. My ideas aren't exactly common and I don't want anyone to take this story in a direction it isn't supposed to go. Actually, the title is a perfect statement about what this story is all about so I believe I'm going to change the title on this one (if possible) and keep the title because it says so much about what I want to show all the readers at the end.

Fourth: I'm just plain possessive. If I abandon it, that was my choice and no one shall over ride _my_ say on _my_ story. Yeah, I know, that's kinda mean, but really! For the reasons listed above, it's my story and I don't want anyone taking it and messing around with it! If I've inspired anyone – I'd be thrilled and surprised! However: This one is mine. This is my twist on 'so-and-so' is related to 'so-and-so' and I'm not giving that up. Ever.

I would be happy that someone like my fic so much that they wanted to see it through to the end themselves, but this is something I feel very strongly about. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my vehemence that this story not be adopted. *bows* Gomenasai.

*-#-*

(Because I know not everyone is gonna search through my reviews to find this specific one I'm gonna post it here so you all can make sense of this.)

_staidwaters__7/11/12 . chapter 7_

_Sooo...I went back and forth with myself about whether to write this, but...I was enjoying the story and had a huge list of things I was going to review about, and then I was reading your author's notes and one of them uh...bewildered me and then I pretty much forgot everything I was going to write because of that. So, then I was just going to not write a review, and then I thought I'd better at least tell you why I wasn't reviewing...  
A lot of fic writers I know consider it an honor when people ask to continue their abandoned stories. In fact, a lot of times it's a gift from a fan; the author can't accomplish the thing they love due to stress at work, or an injury, or whatever, so a friend or fan offers to do it for them, so the author doesn't have to see their masterpiece be forgotten, never to be completed. I realize your story isn't abandoned, but so many authors say stories aren't abandoned and then never ever get back to them, you can't blame people for not being sure. It just seems...weird that you're upset that people want to gift you with their time to help you accomplish something you obviously want to see accomplished.  
Anyhow, I know people are different and all, and you totally have the right to think however you want; maybe people were really offensive about it; I know the HP fandom is really bad about readers being rude to authors who are basically offering the readers a free gift of their time and efforts, but in summary, the rant at the end shocked me enough that I pretty much forgot the story and am now planning to go look up blog entries about how the fandom in general feels about story adoptions, so I thought I'd point out that if you want reviews on the story, controversial statements in the author's notes are probably not the way to go.  
I did enjoy the story in general though. I'm guessing you didn't like it because the plot wasn't set up in a manner that would get you where you wanted in a logical manner. I suspect the reason your readers didn't care is that it comes off as a character growth fic, not a solve the problem fic, so I figured there was a 50-50 chance that absolutely nothing would happen as far as the war goes besides the danger adding some nasty tension and short tempers, and we'd get to see Bakura messing with Voldemort and snarking at Death Eaters. Basically, I expected the war to just be a backdrop to Ryou coming into his own and discovering his own worth and loyalties, without him actually doing much of anything, or affecting the war at all. And I for one was delighted with that scenario (which you were handling very well, incidentally), even if it wasn't where you were planning to go._


	9. Rewrite Up

Ladies and Gentlemen! For those who only follow this story and don't follow me, I have posted the rewrite!

Yay!

It's just called Tainted Life Redo for the moment but that is likely to change. I'll edit this when I do. ^^

Enjoy!


End file.
